Hugh MacLeod – cartoonist extraordinaire, bespoke tailoring champion and, latterly, viral marketer for Stormhoek wine – has started talking about something that could get quite big quite quickly.
No need for that booze cruise to Calais before Christmas as you can get a 40 percent discount on all purchases of wine and champagne from Thresher outlets in the UK between November 30 and December 10.
That’s a pretty significant cost saving on the price of wine in this country – outrageously expensive compared to most other European countries because of high taxes.
Discounting product like this is not new and this is hardly a story to get anyone excited about (well, setting aside the nice cost savings).
What makes it interesting is that Thresher is not advertising this offer anywhere. As Hugh explains, no in-store promotions, no advertising. Only the coupon that you can get via blog posts like Hugh’s, mine and others who write about it.
So go ahead, download the coupon. Print it out. Read the small print just so you’re wholly clear on the deal.
Then tell your friends. If you write a blog, blog it as well.
Lets’ see if a combination of a hefty discount on wine and lots of word-of-mouth commentary make a difference to anything.
And don’t forget to head down to your local Thresher store between November 30 and December 10.
What a wonderul way to start the day – someone offering 40pc off wine just for reading your blog, Neville (which is always a pleasure in itself!).
It is fun, but as ever read the small print. The discount sounds very generous – until you realise that Thresher has been offering a ‘buy two get one free’ deal for many months. I am not great at maths but I reckon that is a 33pc discount, open to everyone….
I am not complaining, and will certainly use the coupon, but a saving of around 35p on a £5 bottle is not quite the windfall the headline figure might suggest. (I think this is called looking a gift horse in the mouth…).
Glad it lifted your spirits today, Philip.
Whichever way you look at it, 40% off is a good deal compared to 33% :)
One of the interesting things about this promotion is how well Thresher will have communicated info about it to all the stores participating in the deal. There’s no in-store advertising, nothing to make you aware of it other than the coupon.
Find out on the 30th.
Neville,
Great to see that as soon as you return to this sceptred isle you loose your euro-sophistication and make like the rest of us Brits and look for deals on cheap booze! How’s that NTL service by the way??
Threshers always have a great three-for-the-price-of-two offer as well.
Go easy on the stuff though…
Neville,
Thanks for spreading the word. I’ll be interested in the results and hope you’ll post a follow-up. It’s great to seeing others blogging about online shopping. Too bad the promo is only available in the UK. :(
Cheers.
Neville, I gave this a plug after reading it on your site and at least half a dozen other bloggers have picked up on it as a result, including some top sites like Devils’ Kitchen, Harry’s Place and Tim Worstall. I have never had so many hits in my life. It has been amazing. I didn’t know it it was the same for you.
Guys, this isn’t as good as it seems. In fact, I think it is an amazing marketing wheeze. The normal “off-the-street” discount is 33% (3 for 2 on all wines and champagnes). The voucher is only 40% and excludes the 3-for-2 deal. Thus it is in fact only a 7% discount on the usual Threshers rate. Maximum spend is £500 per person = maximum extra saving £35.
By golly, someone in Threshers is gonna be delighted at the coverage this has got……
It’s been pretty interesting, Ellee. This post has been the most popular page on this blog for the past two days, according to my server stats.
Good booze at low cost, that’s my ticket, David! Boy do I miss the low prices in Amsterdam. NTL is doing just great, thanks, as I’ve not had the need to call customer support at all :)
You said it, jimbo:
And even if the deal gives you only a max saving of £35, that’s still a pretty good saving.
Have you seen this…. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6198828.stm
I was just with Hugh on his pub crawl with Robert Scoble and he said the response for Threshers had gone off the charts. he was going to look into getting some take-up numbers worked out.
Just saw that, Philip. Phenomenal!
David, hope you’ll be posting some ‘interesting videos’ to Sixty Second View :)
Ha ha wish I was still with them, but client work forced me back to the desk. May try and search them out later though in which case I’ll see what I can do!