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Asif Iqbal
Doha
IT was a day of huge disappointment for hundreds of residents who visited Mall of Qatar on Wednesday morning to avail the heavy sale offer at electronics retail giant Sharaf DG's shop.
Even after queuing up for not less than five hours in front of the shop, the visitors had to return empty handed as the promotion was called off by the concerned authorities owing to safety reasons.
"Do we have a meter that will tell us in advance what kind of response we will get to this campaign?" Nilesh Khalkho, CEO, Sharaf DG told Qatar Tribune in reply to a question as to why adequate arrangements were not made to tackle the crowd.
It is worth mentioning here that the sales promotion was aggressively advertised by Sharaf DG through all forms of media and was the talk of the town during the last few days. The officials, however, failed to anticipate the response they would get from the public to their promo.
Khalkho said the sales promotion had to be called off considering the safety of the large number of people present outside the showroom. He added, for Sharaf DG, safety of its customers is of paramount importance and beyond its business objectives.
Khalkho, however, hinted at the relaunch of the promotion in near future after making necessary arrangements."Sharaf DG will work closely with the Ministry of Interior and Mall of Qatar to avoid such a situation when such an offer is relaunched in future," he remarked.
He added,"We apologise to our loyal customers who were eagerly waiting for the opening of our store and returned empty handed. We are humbled by the response we have got today."
People started gathering in front of the Sharaf DG showroom as early as 8.30am for the scheduled opening of the store at 10am, but as time passed, it was getting apparent that the event would be a non-starter.
As time passed by the crowd gradually swelled near the showroom and people started getting impatient. At around 11.30am, officials realised that it was time for crisis management and the police was called to control the crowd.
However, to the dismay of many, a public announcement was made at around 12pm that the event has been put off until further notice.
"I'm disappointed," said Al Gharaffa resident Shamshul Hoda."I had taken half day off from work as I wanted to buy a laptop for myself. And after waiting for three hours, we are told that the offer is withdrawn. It is frustrating."
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19/01/2017
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