Getir, the swift grocery delivery service, has faced criticism from the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for promoting an enticing deal that it ultimately failed to fulfill due to overwhelming demand.
The company sent an email to all its customers offering a £20 discount, despite the fact that only a limited number of users in specific locations and at certain times were eligible to redeem the promotion.
Getir acknowledged that there had been a “miscommunication about the mechanics” of the promotion, which became apparent when they were unable to cope with the high demand during peak rush hour last year.
The promotional offer stated that customers who spent £21 on the app would receive a £20 discount, accompanied by the tagline: “Yup, you read that right! Shop right now to get all your essentials for a quid!”
However, when Getir failed to honor the discount for all claimants, customers lodged complaints with the regulator.
The ASA determined that the advertisement implied the promotion was available to everyone without any conditions, leading them to conclude that the promotion had not been administered fairly.
Getir explained to the ASA that the promotion was created by its team in Turkey, but the email was prepared internally by their UK marketing team.
The combination of the promotion, the festive season, and the World Cup resulted in an overwhelming surge in orders that exceeded Getir’s operational capacity, leading to unexpected demand.
Instead of honoring the discount when they were able to do so, Getir’s customer service team informed unsuccessful claimants that they had the right to cancel any promotion. However, the company did modify the wording of the promotion within the app and ran clarifying banner ads on its website.
The ASA emphasized that according to the CAP Code, promoters must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment, and phrases like “subject to availability” do not absolve promoters of their responsibility to take all reasonable measures to prevent disappointing participants.
“We considered it was reasonable to expect Getir to have extended the promotion to those who had received the email, as the marketing team had originally intended, to avoid disappointing participants,” stated the ASA, which ultimately concluded that “the promotion had not been administered fairly.”
Getir assured that it has implemented several processes to ensure that similar issues do not arise in the future.
Among the various rapid grocery delivery services, which all strive to retain customers by offering significant discounts, Getir is renowned for its attention-grabbing promotions.
Last summer, it announced a price rollback to the 1990s in response to the cost of living crisis, providing discounts of approximately 45%. In September, it offered customers a free bottle of milk with all orders of £20 or more, and during the World Cup, it included a complimentary multipack of beer with orders.
