Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Stargazing Live 2014 (the Brian Cox effect)

FLO

By FLO
in Sponsor Announcements and Offers

Recommended Posts

FLO

FLO

Posted
Posted

This year's BBC Stargazing Live series begins tonight at 8pm on BBC2.

If the indicators are correct and they have returned to the 2012 format (less cosmology and more stargazing) then we will experience a surge of interest from people looking for advice on how to choose a telescope. If 2012 is anything to go by we will receive 3-4x as many emails and around double the number of orders! Back in 2012 we couldn't cope and were well and truly told off here at SGL and at other forums. We failed to manage the high number of emails and phone calls. 2012 wasn't FLO's best year  :blush:

The number of phone calls in particular increased massively! FLO is based at a managed business centre that boasts a digital phone system with high speed internet access and 'Cat 6 cabling' (whatever that is!). Essentially the centre has its own phone system and businesses hire the number of phones they require. At the height of Stargazing Live the number of phone messages we received built up so rapidly they overloaded the system and prevented other businesses accessing their messages! "Never happened before" they said. We could only clear messages manually one at a time so because they were arriving faster than we could clear them the phone people disconnected our ansafone system, erased everything, then reinstalled it. That was a bad day! 

To be fair, it wasn't only us. Stargazing Live happened at a time when importer/distributors and retailers normally reduce their stocks so the entire UK astro retail industry was not prepared. 

The chart below shows the affect it had on our website's visitor numbers. Apparently SGL experienced the same surge in new members. 
Fortunately we are now much better prepared. In 2012 there were four of us operating from one unit. This year there are eight of us operating from two units. We are also carrying roughly twice the level of stock. I will be joining Martin and SteveB on the help-desk and my wife will be working in dispatch. We are as prepared as we can possibly be. Regarding the phone, we have removed the phone number from our Contact Us page. We know this will upset some and we really didn't want to do it but we are an online retailer so email is highest priority, that is where we have put our resources. Email also enables us to work out of hours to stay on top of busy periods. 
I am quietly confident we'll cope with this year's Stargazing Live but if we are a little late responding to emails, or stock runs out, please make allowances. 
Of course, if they do what they did in 2013 (focus on cosmology and exotic locations, not Stargazing) we'll be answering email super fast and will hold our biggest ever clearance sale….  <_<
Thank-you for your support, 
Steve & the FLO team  :smile:

post-54-0-33779200-1389108217_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 104
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Naemeth

Naemeth

Posted
Posted

...

Of course, if they do what they did in 2013 (focus on cosmology and exotic locations, not Stargazing) we'll be answering email super fast and will hold our biggest ever clearance sale….  <_<
Thank-you for your support, 
Steve & the FLO team  :smile:

:D :D

I'm sure the weather will clear at some point :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
m37

m37

Posted
Posted

When I bought my last bike I was chatting to the lass in the shop and she said the same thing happens after the Tour de France, they get more orders than they can process and they can't keep stock levels or service in the shop anywhere near the usual. Particularly when Bradley won!

Mind you, at least the second hand market perks up a bit with these things; when Lakeside is done I'll give it about a month and look for a used dartboard!!!

Hope you guys do some great turnover, and that we add to the number of amateur astronomers/imagers in the UK. In no way do I hope you've over-stocked on Borg refractors and have to sell them off at 75% discount. Actually I probably still couldn't afford one... :)

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mickshere

mickshere

Posted
Posted

Im sure the clear skies at norfolk and the enthuiasm at norway will spark interest, fortunately my order at FLO went in before the program started  :smiley: so when the added interest starts over the next 3 days I'll be at the front of the queue, although I am already thinking of stuff I would like to add to my order

Wishing FLO all the best  :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gina

Gina

Posted
Posted

I was very disappointed too :(  They went briefly to an outdoor night sight with astronomers all around but nothing about telescopes - if you blinked you'd have missed it.  They even had clear skies - an unusual event these days/nights - perfect opportunity missed! :(  A little bit of sungazing in Ha but no stargazing.  Lots of stuff about planets and their moons from satellites, which was interesting and would have been appreciated in another but "Stargazing Live" it certainly was NOT!! :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FLO

FLO

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Okay FLO, start your Clearance Sale  :grin:

Not so fast :wink:

Seriously, they did at least have Mark Thompson demonstrating what can be achieved with a solar telescope and affordable solar filters. They even sent him to a high street so passers-by could appreciate the views. Personally I had hoped they would advise people how to observe Jupiter, which is probably the easiest and most glamorous target this month. The Moon too. To be fair if they simply want to entertain and educate then Dara O'briain and Brian Cox do that very well. But if they want to encourage people to get off the sofa and practice astronomy then we need more Mark Thompson. Please :smiley:

There are still two episodes to go… 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FLO

FLO

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Brain Cox gets mentioned a lot. I like his work and own a collection of his books and DVDs but Dara O'briain does an excellent job of holding it all together and is entertaining. The show would not be as good without him  :icon_salut:

Just my opinion :smiley: 

Steve 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Macavity

Macavity

Posted
Posted

A good thing if it gets people to buy NEW scopes from reputable dealers (crawl crawl). Heheh. But recently I have seen a lot of newbie folks turn up at my local Astro Soc with decidely *dubious* scopes - That must have been kicking around someones attic for years. lol. OK in the hands of the dedicated, but hardly for beginners. One is reluctant to declare such things as "junk", but hopefully (usually?) the user will learn positively from the experience... :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Skyline

Skyline

Posted
Posted

yes, but not really stargazing is it ! or most of the program was not. It's all Hype IMHO.

I will not bother watching the other two episodes anyway.

As I said better start getting those reduction stickers ready  :grin:  :grin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Naemeth

Naemeth

Posted
Posted

A good thing if it gets people to buy NEW scopes from reputable dealers (crawl crawl). Heheh. But recently I have seen a lot of newbie folks turn up at my local Astro Soc with decidely *dubious* scopes - That must have been kicking around someones attic for years. lol. OK in the hands of the dedicated, but hardly for beginners. One is reluctant to declare such things as "junk", but hopefully (usually?) the user will learn positively from the experience... :p

All it needs to do is spark the interest - as we all know this leads to endless visits to FLO (or other retailers) and endless upgrades :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FLO

FLO

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Last night's episode generated a 9% increase in traffic to our website.

It isn't worth comparing that to 2013 because they focused on cosmology that year which had almost no affect whatsoever. But back in 2012 (when Mark Thompson showed people how easy it is to practice astronomy) the first episode increased traffic by 36%. 

Still two more episodes so it could all change :smiley: 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.