LJR Marketing has watched in recent weeks as increasing petrol prices hit an all-time-high and the UK Chancellor’s decision not to cancel a planned fuel duty increase set for August was met with widespread disappointment and dismay.
Manchester, Lancashire -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2012 -- The BBC reported this week “Queues have formed at petrol stations as demand for fuel shot up after ministers called for people to top up in case of a tanker drivers' strike.” When rumours of the possible fuel strike surfaced earlier this week, cabinet minister Francis Maude suggested drivers should store fuel in jerry cans in their garages in order to avoid fuel shortages. This advice was soon withdrawn as a mistake but after other ministers had suggested people ‘top-up’ or ‘get a full tank of petrol, not a half-tank,’ alarm bells began to ring.
LJR Marketing discovered that what followed was nationwide panic buying causing long queues on forecourts, petrol stations closing due to running out of fuel and even some police forces asking petrol stations to close because of congestion and rising tensions on forecourts. The chain reaction again showed the power of social networking, with Twitter and Facebook soon littered with news of shortages and closures and as well as images of queues on forecourts. This Is Money claimed that “Prices soared and more than 100 forecourts ran dry” as some garages attempted to profiteer from worried customers panic buying. Lawrence Randall, Managing Director at LJR Marketing commented: “It’s incredible to see how quickly the country reacts now that information is readily available 24/7 and social media is such a large part of life, both personally and professionally. 10 years ago I don’t believe this would have happened.”
As experts in Direct Sales & Marketing, LJR Marketing understands the importance of ensuring continuous demand for your product or service.
When it comes to a household essential such as petrol therefore, the power is very much in the hands of the distributors who enjoyed a 172% rise in demand for unleaded petrol and a 77% rise in demand for diesel. Motor accessories chain Halfords also reported a 225% increase in sales of fuel containers as people took on board the advice to ‘hoard extra fuel’ which then resulted in a middle aged woman set herself alight as she decanted petrol in her kitchen. The president of the AA, Edmund King believes: "We now have self-inflicted shortages due to poor advice about topping up the tank and hoarding in jerrycans.”
LJR Marketing believe the whole ordeal could have easily been avoided had it been handled in the correct way to begin with. The initial threat over possible strikes over Easter from Unite's drivers over minimum standards covering pay, hours, holiday and redundancy have now been quashed, meaning there are no fuel shortages other than the ones created by panic buying. Lawrence Randall, Managing Director at LJR Marketing concluded: “If it were an intentional marketing ploy from the fuel providers to increase profits it would have been ingenious. It just shows the power of viral advertising and social media is getting stronger and stronger by the day. The world in which we live and work is changing rapidly and people and businesses can be so much more reactive nowadays.”