You Put the Sore in Sorel

Dear Sorel,

For a fleeting moment I thought we were going to have something together. I took advantage of a pricing loophole on your website and envisioned countless Instagram photo sessions and hashtags bringing your brand front and center to my small digital pod of colleagues, friends and family.

Instead, you fucked it up.

On Wednesday, July 17th a co-worker of mine noticed there was no price attached to your Women’s Whitney Short Lace Boot. When purchasing and checking out, all I had to pay for was shipping. I received a confirmation email and everything.

A day later, I received an email saying my order could not be complete because the product was “out of stock”, which is bullshit because I was able to go on the website and see the product. It now had a price and was available to order again.

It’s not the consumer in me that’s pissed off, it’s the marketer. Yes, I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to get a boot that retails at $120 for $6. I knowingly took advantage of a pricing mistake. I’m upset that you lied, but I’m even more upset that you passed on the chance to humanize your brand and potentially gain a lot of positive sentiment while doing it.

Could you image? I’m willing to bet that many people would’ve took to social media showcasing their brand new Whitney boots while tagging the brand, at which point you could’ve orchestrated a fun message. For example;

• “We’ve recently been made aware of a pricing mistake on our website. But hey, we’re human. To the few customers who ordered the Whitney Short Lace Boot for $6.00, we hope your feet stay as hot in them this winter as that deal you just got.”

How much would you really be losing out? $10,000? $20,000? $50,000? Probably not as much as you’d be paying for an influencer campaign. And the content attributed to your brand wouldn’t even have needed #Spon.

Until next time, Sorel. Wait, there won’t be one.

Byeeeeeeeeeee