England Flags – Stock Control, Stupidity, and Opportunity
July 9, 2010 Google Adwords, Uncategorized, Website Accuracy, Website Strategy No CommentsWalking past a branch of a sports store chain last week there was a huge stall outside selling large England flags for 10p each. Clearly, the store had overstocked, hoping for a better England performance and hadn’t negotiated a sale or return deal. At 10p each they’d still have been making a fair loss on each transaction. That got me thinking about incompetence both offline and online when it comes to event-sensitive sales of products.
I had a search online under the phrase ‘England flags’ and although many PPC adverts were still relevant (i.e. they weren’t focusing purely on the World Cup market), two adverts stood out as demonstrating PPC campaign management incompetence – nearly 2 weeks since England dropped out of the World Cup …
Looking at the Woolworths advert first, the high street store died not too long ago and out of the ashes came an online incarnation. Woolworths died because it didn’t move with the times and it would appear that some of that spirit has translated to this website. Would it have been simple to make a diary note to take down the PPC advert when England were knocked out of the World Cup, instead of, nearly 2 weeks later, having an advert asking us to ‘Support the England team with flags from Woolworths’, which looks just plain stupid? Of course it would have been simple but instead, they could be wasting clicks (although it’s hard to conceive who would be buying England flags to support the team right now) by being visible. They also make the woolworths.co.uk online presence look out of touch.
Onto the other PPC advert. In this case, they’re not offering flags but a World Cup Poster. Clicking on that advert takes you to a page that has a poster that’s totally geared around the World Cup, so has limited interest now that everything is all but over. What’s really interesting about that page though is the number of those A3 posters they have in stock:
Yes, 5,000 A3 posters in stock. Highly unlikely to be used and destined for recycling. So who has paid for those posters? The people who fund Keep Britain Tidy of course. Who was responsible for thinking there’d be a high demand for such a poster? Probably someone who is funded by those who put money into the charity. And then there’s the person responsible for keeping the PPC advert live, possibly attracting clicks, when there’s no point at all. As with the Woolworths example, it’s just lazy PPC management.
So I’ve covered the stock control and stupidity, now onto the opportunity …
Going back to the sports store with all the 10p England flags for sale. A week later those flags still haven’t been sold and are still there for 10p. Where’s the innovation in this country? Why doesn’t someone buy them all up (and more if they’re available), store them, and then sell them at the appropriate time? White background with red cross – it’s an England flag – it’s not going to change between now and the next big England event. At 10p a time it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that they could create an ebay page, offer them for sale at prices much lower than typically sold elsewhere, and just let the orders trickle in. If there are still flags left a couple of years down the line (for the European games) then demand may be higher. If unlucky, they’ll still be in stock for the next World Cup, but what’s been lost by making those purchases at bargain prices and just waiting til they sell, undercutting the competition?
Barely a day goes by when I don’t hear someone moaning about how much things cost, or how hard it is to get business. This is especially true with teenagers. Perhaps it’s easier to moan than to innovate. Perhaps the concept of buying up a stock of England flags isn’t the biggest short-term profitable activity to undertake and we’re living in a world where everyone wants quick wins and big bucks now. But from small opportunities generally come bigger ideals about what’s possible to achieve and when sites like ebay make it so simple to start from those small beginnings, the opportunities open to people are limited only by how blinkered they are.