Will's Web Watch: Thresher thinking

Have you received a voucher for a great offer at off licence Threshers? Many people have and many have used them but is this viral marketing genius or disaster? Will Sturgeon explains why he thinks it's the former...

This weekend I went into my local Threshers and, in common with a lot of people at this time of year, I stocked up the wine store ahead of Christmas. I bought a dozen very decent bottles of wine and enjoyed an £80 discount thanks to a voucher which has been doing the rounds on the internet this past week.

You've probably seen it. Millions of people have although it was originally only intended for a select group of distributors and partners of the off licence chain.

So far this voucher, promising 40 per cent off all wine and champagne at Threshers for sales up to £500, has been sent to me as a PDF attachment at least 10 times. One wine merchant hosting the voucher claims it has been downloaded more than 800,000 times.

While normally I would be more suspicious of such offers circulating by email - and would still advise caution when receiving emails or offers from people you can't vouch for - the fact this required no input from me, no response, no entry into a draw, no nothing - it didn't even require I visit a website – it fell into the 'it can't hurt to try' category.

Then between first receiving the voucher and using it (or at least using it for the first time), I started reading in the media how Threshers, to its credit, has promised to honour all sales despite admitting the promotion has spiralled out of control.

So has Threshers really shot itself in the foot or has it stumbled upon the viral marketing wheeze of the decade?

Certainly at first glance it looks as though somebody within Threshers didn't think through this promotion and entirely underestimated how easy it is to forward an email.

After all, there are no controls in place - such as serial numbers on the vouchers or codes for individuals to log in and collect the voucher they, and only they, are entitled to from a secure website.

In short there is nothing to stop this promotion from snowballing, though Threshers says that effect was never its goal. Still we must assume this is the result of serious failings (unless those protestations are a very elaborate double bluff).

However, I believe when the dust settles on this Threshers will realise viral marketing has done it a great many favours.

The margins Threshers will get on wine and champagne will be hit, of course, though arguably not to a point which will see this campaign run at a loss – more a loss leader.

For starters the people this voucher has recruited will be doing a lot of their booze shopping in the run-up to Christmas in Threshers now - including non-discounted items such as beers and spirits.

Plus, Threshers already runs a very successful three-for-two promotion on wines and champagnes, so the average customer making that work for them is already getting 33 per cent off as standard anyway.

Forty per cent off sounds very generous – and that generosity is accentuated by Threshers' protestations that it never meant for this happen and its subsequent decision to honour the sales – but it's not much of a leap beyond 33 per cent. (And believe me, that extra seven per cent on a bottle of wine would not have bought the amount of 'free' publicity Threshers has enjoyed.)

What's more those people shopping with Threshers aren't shopping elsewhere. And while bringing cash in over the counter is any business's primary concern, stealing market share – albeit at a disproportionate rate of growth to your profits - is still a good thing.

Nick Gladding, senior retail analyst at Verdict, told me he believes "at worst this will work out neutral for Threshers but at best it could be a significantly good thing".

Threshers has struggled in recent years and been through many changes, including a flirtation with selling food and a series of acquisitions of other brands such as Unwins, leaving customers confused.

Gladding told me: "Threshers doesn't spend much on marketing so anything that gets the brand in front of consumers and brings shoppers in to rediscover Threshers is a good thing," adding this move could be exactly what Threshers needs to wrestle some customers back from the all-conquering supermarkets.

Some people have caught wind of the fact Threshers' 40 per cent discount still doesn't undercut Tesco on some lines but consumers seem convinced by the hype surrounding it that the 40 per cent off offer is too good to pass up.

Gladding said: "This voucher is a way for Threshers to start capturing larger order sizes again," adding if it were to run the offer again the only thing it should consider changing is the omission of a minimum spend on the vouchers.

Threshers may want people to think it's been hit hard and should be applauded for honouring the offer. The latter part of that statement is true, though tempered by the suspicion that like many things discovered by accident this 'mistake' could in fact prove a great innovation which benefits nobody more than Threshers.

Perhaps the only mistake Threshers has made is admitting it is a mistake at all - and missing out on the plaudits for marketing savvy - though that in itself could still prove the unwitting masterstroke. I suspect many shoppers are only filling their shopping baskets because they think this offer really is too good to be true. And the media would not have covered this so widely if they thought it had been intended.

Either way, as high street retailers look to compete with their online rivals and try to work out how they can harness the power of the internet to fight back, I would expect to see a lot more campaigns like this appearing at highly competitive times such as Christmas - though their originality will diminish with repetition and none will be able to replicate the accidental genius of Threshers' offer.