October 7, 2010
If you were on Twitter yesterday, you heard about the @FabFindToronto super deal of the day - $10 iPads. Yes, that's 98% off the retail price. People went nuts! Their servers crashed. The sale was supposed to go live at 11am and I don't think it actually happened until 5pm. I gave up hope after lunch, but sat back and watched as the buzz grew and their follower count grew from around 1500 in the morning to 3,584 (at 11pm, last time I checked). Another successful marketing ploy? Well, we are all talking about it.
Was it sustainable? Only time will tell.
As I watched the drama unfold I did learn a few things about dealing with people and difficult situations. I think we can all benefit from these lessons, so here it goes...
1- Plan for the worst, and then some - the servers were tested and prepared, and then they crashed. The results surpassed the expectations. Hey, it happens. They had George ready to fan things out and a twitter guy/gal ready to take the heat.
2 - Always act with class, never with sass - The gal/guy that manned the twitter for Fab Find yesterday got through most of the comments and answered them gracefully and with a sense of humour. Some of the comments were really mean, but if you can be kind to those who are rude to you, you're ahead of the game.
3- Think BIG, even if it sounds crazy (in fact, the crazier the better) - $10 iPads is just insanity. No one would believe it, but look at all the buzz it generated!
4 - Make a negative into a positive - after not being able to purchase an iPad many people started (or suggested) donating to the Canadian Red Cross or the Daily Bread Food Bank. I really can't think of a better use of $10. Brilliant. You're not going to die if you don't have an iPad, but there are people that would die without the help of these organizations.
So like they say, STAY FAB!
Agree or disagree? leave a comment.
Stay Tuned for Part 4 of my Chicago Adventure.
Posts
I agree that many of the comments were incredibly rude, be civilized people...
But yes, as a consumer, I was upset & felt "I've been had". This was by all accounts a marketing ploy. And 'ploy' implies some form of deceit. When I contacted FabFind yesterday they said they were giving out "10-100". That's a ridiculous range, I wonder how many they actually did give out... 11 I suspect. It's also interesting to note that some few who did get it, are individuals connected to FabFind as company.
I am glad people are getting outraged by this. Let us prove wrong the statement, "Any Press is Good Press." If you're looking for an alternative team-buying site, www.TeamBuy.ca is the one I've switched to.
Yea I too would like to know exactly how many iPads they actually gave away and to whom? I'm not surprised it doesn't say this anywhere on their site...
Thanks though i will definately check out teambuy.ca i love this team buying craze...aside from fab find lol
All I have to say is: If something is too good to be true, it probably is.
Hello everyone! You can choose other related sites aside from Fabfind. One website lists various kinds of deal sites in one place. Drop by at www.GroupBuyUnited.com! :-)