Well, this is a little embarrassing.
UK grocery chain Sainsbury’s has accidentally placed a private internal marketing memo in a very public place: hanging up in the front window for all customers to see.
“Let’s encourage every customer to spend an additional 50p during each shopping trip between now and year-end,”
the poster, meant for internal staff only, reads.
Eagle-eyed TV freelancer
Chris Dodd spotted the poster for the ‘Fifty Pence Challenge’, and posted a photo to Twitter, tagging Sainsbury’s and saying, “Not sure this is supposed to be in your window.”
Sainsbury’s attempted to defuse the situation by tweeting back, “Yeah, I don’t think so either. Which store was this? I’ll give them a call. Ross.”
The situation quickly gathered steam on social media, with the hashtag
#50pChallenge taking off as the poster went viral.
Discount supermarket chain Lidl piggybacked off the hype be releasing
their own poster, which read, “Let’s encourage every one of our lovely customers to save as many 50ps as possible.”
The timing isn’t ideal for Sainsbury’s, which is facing a “perfect storm” of problems, including a recent slump in sales, according to CEO Mike Coupe.
“It’s the most challenging I’ve ever seen the market in my 30 years in retail,” Coupe said.
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