Crowds scramble for discounted goods

[Thaivisa News]

Bangkok:- Huge crowds gathered in front of Siam Discovery shopping mall on Thursday morning, well before its opening hour, as consumers felt the mall’s big sale was too good to miss.

The upscale mall is preparing to undergo a Bt4billion renovation plan, and thus will close down for quite a long while. Ahead of its temporary closure, it has decided to conduct the Groundbreaking Sale.

Launched on Thursday, the campaign offers up to 90 per cent discount and will run till May 5.

The turnout at the mall was so big that popular shops like iStudio by copperwired there have to arrange queues for interested customers on Thursday.

“We let about 10 customers into our shop each time. They have about 15 minutes to look around,” an iStudio sales clerk told Thairath.

He said key products like Macbook, iPhone, iPod, and iMac were sold out within one hour.

“We will have to bring products from other branches for the remaining days then,” he said.

Long lines were also seen in front of Converse and Bobbi Brown shops with customers swarming around to grasp the products that catch their eyes.

During the upcoming renovation, more than 120 shops at the Siam Discovery will be relocated to special zones in adjacent Siam Center and Siam Paragon. Only the Madame Tussaud museum will continue to operate inside the Siam Discovery as usual.

The renovation will run till early 2016.

[bangon04]

"He said key products like Macbook, iPhone, iPod, and iMac were sold out within one hour.

“We will have to bring products from other branches for the remaining days then,” he said."

Not sure I understand the logic - if the purpose is to clear the one branch ready for renovations, then why restock from other branches at a huge discount?. Why not just apply the same discount at all other branches? Or move the product to other branches without a ridiculous discount which presumably loses them money....

Oh unless of course the products are grossly overpriced anyway and the "massive discount" is not genuine.......

[Ombra]

^{I was wondering exactly the same thing.}

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

My wife and I went by there tonight. It was quite busy.

And, the line at the, of all places, Converse shoes shop probably had 50+ people waiting in queue outside the store...

I had no idea Converse brand tennis shoes were so popular among the Thai set. But the shop was offering some pretty big discounts.

I stopped by the Outback Steakhouse up on the 6th floor while my wife was shopping, and the staff at the restaurant told me they'll be closing May 5, that the restaurant will return to the mall once the mall renovation is complete, and in the meantime, the restaurant's current Thai staff will be sent to work at the Outback outlet in Singapore!

[SoFarAndNear]

hahaha....up to 90%....definetly not at in iStore...

[Cake Monster]

Ha Ha , 90% down on a massive mark up = nothing

But just try telling that to a Thai

[Mr Somtam]

Ha Ha , 90% down on a massive mark up = nothing

But just try telling that to a Thai

Or a woman...

[mike324]

The most basic converse model are actually cheaper here than any other western country. I believe it can be purchase around 900-1000 baht.

[Local Drunk]

"He said key products like Macbook, iPhone, iPod, and iMac were sold out within one hour.

“We will have to bring products from other branches for the remaining days then,” he said."

Not sure I understand the logic - if the purpose is to clear the one branch ready for renovations, then why restock from other branches at a huge discount?. Why not just apply the same discount at all other branches? Or move the product to other branches without a ridiculous discount which presumably loses them money....

Oh unless of course the products are grossly overpriced anyway and the "massive discount" is not genuine.......

"Oh unless of course the products are grossly overpriced anyway and the "massive discount" is not genuine......."

Maybe they have items that they can't move in other branches and will liquidate them at Siam. Something is better than nothing. I do agree that the products are grossly over priced... Then again if the consumer is willing to pay it... then it isn't. But then I thought Google is my friend... and did a sweaty 2 minutes of research and got this. I'm sure it's hand grenade close.

"Our numbers are not air tight, but they should give you an idea of what goes into a smartphone like the iPhone. Apple makes far more profit than any other phone manufacturer, but 50 percent isn’t unheard of for a highly successful company. Nike’s gross profit margin is about 43 percent. Levi Jeans also reports a 52 percent gross margin. Porsche is the only automaker to claim a 50 percent profit margin on its vehicles, but Tesla ranks as one of the best automobile makers, when it comes to profit, with a 17 percent gross margin, which it hopes to raise to 25 percent soon. McDonald’s gross profit hovers around 40 percent (yes, your cheeseburger could actually be cheaper than $1). Oh, and Burger King, it makes 56 percent."

So I guess they can liquidate at any price they choose... That's just one store selling out with untold millions coming in at retail prices from other stores, so it's not a problem for them.