Video footage went viral on social media yesterday of a large unruly crowd pushing and shoving to get into a Victoria’s Secret outlet in a mall in Kota Kinabalu.
It is believed that the screaming shoppers were scrambling over Victoria’s Secret Fresh Escape Mist Collection promotion, which features a “buy two, free one” at RM79 each offer.
Scores of shoppers are seen rushing into the premises, causing the clear entrance shutters to become dislodged repeatedly.
The situation descends into chaos as security staff is forced to attempt crowd control, closing the shutters to stop the rest of the crowd from flooding in.
In one of the videos, a lady in black with her hair tied in a ponytail can be seen screaming repeatedly at those around her, though it remains unclear if she is a store employee or shopper.
https://www.facebook.com/penmerahdotcom/videos/2577027265732295/?t=0
Another video clip shows people grabbing bottles of perfumed body mist.
The Star reported sighting a Victoria’s Secret promotional e-mail showing that their Mist Collection which is usually priced at RM79 was offered for RM29 from March 31 to April 1, and the attractive 63% discount may have triggered the fragrance frenzy.
The @KKCity Twitter account shared pictures of notices pasted on the shop entrance, including a sign informing customers that the promotion ended at 3pm.
The store reportedly closed immediately after the incident, ahead of the mall’s closing hours.
Checks on social media show that long queues had formed outside the outlet from before 10am.
The bargain-hunting pandemonium drew sharp criticism from netizens who slammed the shoppers behaving in an uncivilised manner.
Some said they could not understand why shoppers would go through such mayhem for discounts.
Others said the potential savings from the sale was not worth the trouble.
Yet others asked why Malaysians were still willing to spend on luxuries despite complaining about the rising cost of living.
The @KKCity handle which shared a video saw many Twitter users also responding with scorn.
However, tweeter @dkManeyMohd was more disappointed with the store management, stating that they should have devised a plan to handle customers for the sale.
“Pity the women who are actually 100% supporting your product. They shouldn’t be treated like this,” she added.
The scenario was reminiscent of a warehouse sale fiasco last month at the MyTown Shopping Centre in Cheras.
Thousands of Apple fans had swamped the mall for Switch Malaysia’s Apple warehouse sale which had to be called off for security reasons.
Related report: Mar 4, Apple Warehouse Sale Cancelled After Cheras Mall Swamped by Massive Crowd