Has Suntory really sold a year’s supply of their new drink, “Lemongina”, in just two days?
The bizarre news that the Suntory Food and Beverage Company had apparently sold a year’s supply of stock of their new drink “Lemongina” in just two days has rapidly spread online, becoming one of the most shared stories on Facebook.
But many netizens have pointed out that their local supermarkets still have plentiful supplies. And as some skeptical 2ch netizens have pointed out, it is April 1, and Suntory have a new drink to sell.
Is this perhaps the worst April fool ever?
From Sankei Shimbun:
Sales Temporarily Suspended For Suntory Food and Beverage’s “Lemongina” After One Year Target Is Shipped In Two Days
On April 1, Suntory Food and Beverage International announced that they had temporarily suspended sales of “Lemongina”, a carbonated beverage made with lemon juice. The product went on sale on March 31, but due to the sales volume exceeding expectations and the company being unable to maintain a stable supply, shipping of the product was suspending until production is tooled up.
According to the company the sales plan was for 1,000,000 cases of the beverage to be sold by the end of December this year, but in one day 125 cases were shipped, and in two days they were in the unusual position of having already exceeded their target for the year. Accordingly, sales of both the 420ml bottle and 1.2l bottle were suspended. The plan is that the drink will be produced in Suntory’s three domestic factories and subcontracting companies, but the company wants to secure a production system as quickly as possible.
Comments from 2ch.net:
名無しさん＠１周年:
Didn’t even know they were selling it.
名無しさん＠１周年:
There was a mountain of them left at Seiyu.
【凶】 【中部電 82.1 %】 【26.6m】 【利用料 193172 ₲】:
Umm, in the supermarket near me there were loads of them left, and plus they were only 68 yen [56 cents].
名無しさん＠１周年:
They were in the supermarket man.
1.2l for 165 yen [approx. $1.38]
名無しさん＠１周年:
Yup, there was a pile of them in my local supermarket too.
It’s only one part of the country where they’ve oversold.
名無しさん＠１周年:
I’ve heard that stuff is vile?
名無しさん＠１周年:
Is this an April fool?
名無しさん＠１周年:
They should ban this kind of April fool, where people just blow their own trumpets.
名無しさん＠１周年:
It’s horrible, plus they were selling the smaller bottle for 88 yen.
名無しさん＠１周年:
Well, I like orangina.
名無しさん＠１周年:
And here it comes, blatant stealth marketing ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
桜咲子:
In my local supermarket there was a big stack of them, as usual…but they really sold that many, huh?
nanigaseugika:
Though it’s a bit sour, it’s just a normal carbonated lemon juice.
Yup, plain ordinary.
I don’t think it’s as good as Fujiya’s lemon squash.
for*****:
In a certain supermarket today, there were a lot of them stacked up, and it didn’t look like they’d been selling. Anyway, I’ll make my decision once I’ve tried it.
あかんたれ:
On March 31, they were piled up in their boxes, and it was being sold for 75 yen a bottle. There weren’t even that many people picking them up?
And they shipped their entire year’s supply in two days??? Doesn’t that just mean that they made a mistake with their shipping instructions?
快楽亭ブラック:
Is this effective advertising?
I don’t even have the impression that this drink is massively popular.
k_d*****:
There’s not enough explanation with this article.
Anyway, you wouldn’t say that sales were suspended by the ones selling them to consumers, you’d say that Suntory, as the maker, had stopped shipping them to merchants and therefore you’d say that shipping had been suspended.
I suppose that as far as these things go for Suntory, they sold quite well, but they don’t really check whether or not the things have actually sold at the place they were shipped to.
Other stories about things being over sold are also misleading like this.
Ｒyu:
There was a pile of them selling for 78 yen.
