(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-13 07:03

Sales promotions have always been regarded as a win-win strategy in which customers get cheaper products while businesses make big bucks.

The fatal accident that happened on Saturday in the Carrefour outlet in Southwest Chongqing Municipality however has taught us a bitter lesson as to how treacherous sales promotions can be, if badly organized and conducted at the wrong time.

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Three people died, and 31 others were injured in a stampede triggered by the sales promotion the shop launched to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The Carrefour outlet apparently had not prepared for such a big influx of buyers who had rushed to buy bottles of five-liter edible oil with a reduced price of about 20 percent. Had enough and safety measures been taken, such a tragedy could have been prevented.

Had the price of edible oil and other daily necessities such as pork not been on the rise this year, there would not have been such a huge turnout for the sales.

However, it seems that both might be the case.

While concerned parties are still investigating, they need to bear in mind that the public deserves a final account of the accident.

The tragic event should sound an alarm for businesses, especially those prone to the mass-gathering of people, to step up safety measures and plug the loopholes.

They should always put the safety of customers above the pursuit of profits when launching sales that are likely to attract big crowds.

Given that the central government has long required different places to set up an emergency response system, follow-up inspections are needed to check whether such systems have been adequately put into place.

The tragedy should make the country's economic regulators jump up and take notice.

Residents in big cities have been suffering for months from rising pork prices, and the oil price increase, which started last month, has added another heavy blow to them.

To low-income families, a 20 percent reduction in the price of some necessities of life can understandably tempt them into a temporary neglect of safety. The regulators need to ensure adequate market supply of daily necessities and bring down the price increases.

(China Daily 11/13/2007 page10)