Win, win, win or lose
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Spar Hoza Summer Promotion winner Cynthia Musingwanani feels her good fortune after winning the grand prizeof a Range Rover Evoque

Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe
It looks like you cannot throw a stone and not hit a promotion advert of one sort or another, be it a billboard, flyer or mass media placement. Everyone seems to be eager to give something away.The FMCG retailers are at the forefront with all the big name supermarkets running some big promotions sometime this year. The OK Grand Challenge Promotion has become an annual institution with customers looking forward to throwing in their names in the hat, or rather their coupons into the collection boxes in the hope of winning a vehicle.

TM has answered with their Big Brands Bonanza promotion in which shoppers also get a chance to win some vehicles. Not to be outdone Food World and Spar have also run their own campaigns with wheels up for grabs by lucky shoppers.

Mahomed Musa Wholesalers is currently running a promotion in which shoppers stand chances to win gadgets and other items.

But the give-aways are by no means limited to supermarkets. Almost every service provider and merchant has got something going on. Last weekend a lucky Harare man, Mr Brownd Kasonda, walked away a cool US$10 000 richer after scooping the grand prize in the 2014 Edgars Fashion Extravaganza.

“I did not believe in credit purchasing and was reluctant to open an account. A friend of mine convinced me that it was a good move and now I have won this prize,” a dignified and quietly elated Kasonda told the shoppers who had gathered for the prize handover ceremony at Edgars Stanley House in First Street.

Mr Kasonda’s account was opened a just a couple of months before his number came up in a good way. But the vagaries of the draws do not leave everyone feeling happy. A shopper who would not be identified said she found it a bitter pill to swallow that after years of being a good client no windfall has ever come her way.

“It is just hard to think that after all the money that I have spent and kept my account clean I stand here to watch a new client walk away with the grand prize. But I guess I am happy for his good luck and wish him well because it is not as if he stole it. He is just lucky,” she said.

For her what would work is a reward-based promotion in which those who buy more get more. Some retailers, manufacturers are doing that with shoppers getting points or rewards for a set number of dollars spent on specified products. Many people consulted said that the promotions are good and give hope to people who may not have much to start off with.

“Some of the people who win cars would never be able to buy a vehicle in their lifetime. So these things change lives forever. And you always know that there is another chance elsewhere so you never stop hoping,” said Mr Takesure Gomba of Mufakose.

But others said the similarity in prizes seems to point to a lack of creative thinking on the part of the minds behind the promotions.

“Cars are great, but surely someone can come up with something different like house or even just stands. There is need to have a wide range of prizes on offer so that each competition is different from the next. Right now they all sound the same and there is nothing exciting about it anymore because there are just too many,” opined Maria Musarara of Greendale.

But for the winners, no doubt there is no such thing as a boring prize. For what better bargain is there than getting something big in return for just a small investment?

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