Rejoice! It's sales season

Ask what Indian traditions have in store for the people, and without batting an eyelid the consumer would chorus, 'Festivity galore!’

Celebrations time, especially the fortnight before Diwali, is often the best time for the casual as well as the hip-hop shoppers to shop. The festive months excite every retailer just as much as they delight a consumer. Decorated marketplaces, overflowing shopping malls, numerous Diwali bonanza offers, a rush-hour hustle and bustle, are some of the key features perceivable. Retailers anticipating huge profits welcome customers with a broad grin, and the consumer with a kaleidoscopic vision in their minds, try and reach out for the best of the festival schemes.

Similarly, the world of virtual reality brings forth to its online buyers gifts, schemes, promotional offers that are hard to resist. E-consumers can trust e-tailers to send festival gifts to their friends, family residing at any geographical area. Virtual shopping malls are today retaining e-consumers from across the globe. In short, 20 mega bytes of popularity, in the form of a website, are enough to earn the e-tailers a fortune they had not fathomed ever.

Festivals ahoy!

On the Indian subcontinent, festivals remain synonymous with worship and enlightenment. The entire country wakes up to a dreamy situation where a series of festivals seem too good to be true. The bazaars are decked up like newly weds, houses washed and cleaned sparkle like new, and idols of Ganesha and Lakshmi are bought in gold and silver, especially for this season. Though Diwali is the biggest festival of them all, the celebrations begin with Navratri, covering Durga Puja, Dussehra, Karva Chauth and Dhanteras.

Exhilarating wave of festivals 

The auspicious season begins with Sri Sarvajanin Durga Puja, a festival celebrated with intense fervour and zest in West Bengal and among Bengalis nationwide. The vibrant festivities last for 10 days, of which nine nights are spent in worship, called ‘Navratri’. The tenth day is devoted to the worship of goddess Durga, who is 'Shakti', the cosmic energy that animates all beings. It is followed by Dussehra, an occasion for festivities on a grand scale, which emanate a genuine feeling of bonhomie and warmth.

In northern India the festival wears the colourful garb of Ramlila. In the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh the hill-folk celebrate Dussehra with a grand mass ceremony wherein village deities are taken out in elaborate processions. The Dussehra of Mysore is also quite famous where caparisoned elephants lead a colourful procession through the gaily-dressed streets of the city.

The next festival is Karva Chauth that falls on the Kartik Ki Chauth sometime in October or November. It is the most important fast observed by the women of north India. A woman keeps such a fast for the well-being of her husband, who is her protector after she leaves her parents home. Mehndi stalls are set up in every corner of the market, bindis, red bangles and cosmetics are sold everywhere. 

The very first day of Diwali celebrations is Dhanteras. This festival is also referred to as Dhantrayodashi Dhanteras, marking the beginning of the Diwali festivities, and is celebrated on the 13th day of the month of Ashwin i.e., two days before Diwali, to seek blessings of Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, in the amalgamation of Dhan (wealth).

Boom! Boom! Bang! ….the days of frolicking never seem to end and the noise and scintillation of crackers conveys the same message, “It’s Diwali time folks and lets be a part of the celebrations!” Diyas dazzle the night, as chants of Maha Lakshmi Puja echo around houses. The festival is a grand one in every sense. It's time to savour sweets. It's time to get dressed in your best traditional attire. It's time when crackers steal the show.

Festival bonanzas: its time to grab!

All these festivals are special occasions when innumerable bonanza offers fill your shopping bag or carry you home in a brand new luxury car that you just won! A fortnight before the festival actually arrives, the well-illuminated markets and a sea of shoppers ready to buy anything and everything in the name of festival discounts and special bonanza offers, sing the shopping saga in harmonious tunes.

It takes just a shopper’s coupon to bring home the Plasma TV, or with luck you might win a Home Theater, or if you buy one kitchen appliance, you would also get an oven or dishwasher free.

Consumer's angle of the festivities: Vidula Kamboj, a 24 year-old, likes the festival season not only because of the delight and the joy of family reunion that it bring, but also because markets remain loaded with countless Diwali bonanza offers. She is in for a discount while shopping for clothing, she gets a scheme on every pair of footwear that she packs in her shopping bag. This makes the festival season a great time to shop for her wardrobe. She says, “It gives me loads of fun to shop during the festival. The Great Diwali Bonanza offers make shopping a thrilling activity and temptations keep pushing you into buying every offer that you come across. I specially enjoy the ‘Buy One, get Two Free, -like schemes. With such bonanzas shoppers are really being lead to a paradise where they hop in, shop and enjoy.”

The flip side: retailers views: When asked why these schemes and offers are brought forth to the shoppers during festivals, retailer Ashley Miranda, owner of a branded clothing standalone outlet had this to say, “We retailers are able to sell more during the festival season. The offers are lucrative, and therefore, customers rush in. By giving gift packages to the shopper, we ensure that our products sell, be it two at the price of one. Shoppers are contented this way and dig in for more stuff that they would not have got on non-festive occasions. We welcome the customer with open arms because it is ultimately the customer who makes retail a profit-giving business.”

The festive season is the most important season for us, says, Girish V Rao, VP (Sales and Marketing), LGEIL. He  comments, “The launch of our new offer and products is an endeavour on our part to renew and strengthen our relationship with our customers. LG has earmarked Rs 100 crore as the total marketing spend for the festive campaigns across India. The company is targeting a combined turnover of Rs 2,500 crore for the festive season nationally.”

Exclusive Products: Accessories and essential items like pooja thalis, diyas, vases, jewellery boxes, candy jars, lanterns, incense sticks, candles, candle stands are on display.

The new collections introduced, includes innovative Indo-western and traditional products with a touch of contemporary modern-day aesthetics.

The new furnishings embroidered in a contemporary look are available in bright festive metallic colours to co-ordinate with cushion covers, bed sheets, and bed covers.

Happy Diwali Online!

A surprise from India

It was festival time, and in London, Diwali had the same fervor, but only for those who were settled and had scores of relatives to enjoy the occasion with. For students like Jayant Viraani who stayed in a rented accommodation, Diwali was but a usual day. He sat alone in his room wondering whether to go out on such a cold day. It was past noon and the simple food he ate in London made him crave for the magical temptations that he usually relished during Diwali at his home in Gujarat.

Just then, a single 'ding-dong' of the doorbell jarred him from his thoughts. He opened the door to find a delivery boy with a bouquet of coloured roses and a gift. Excitedly, he tore the wrappings and opened the box. To his astonishment he found the Indian sweets that he relished, along with a beautiful idol of Ganesha with a message card attached signed by his parents back in India.

For the first time, the multifarious use of the internet surprised him. His parents had sent the gift via a website. The transaction originated at their home town in Gujarat, and delivered at his place of stay in London. 

Shopping through the net has never been so easy and satisfying. With festivals like Diwali, shoppers get busy filling their shopping carts abundantly and using their plastic money profusely. Not only are there secure online transactions, but also festival offers like ‘Buy two for the price of one’, ‘x per cent more’, or other irresistible schemes from the click and mortar store which keeps the net traffic on the e-commerce websites buzzing and ever increasing. The surprisingly increase in online shoppers shows how the internet has reduced physical boundaries in a manner much more convenient than imaginable.

Online shopping advantage

Indian online retailers have had much to gain this time. “It's a number game out here,” explains Mr Anupam Mirchandani, a website owner. The special offers and schemes at Diwali along with the gift items that he presents through his website are selling like hot cakes. On his website www.specialgifts.com,  he shows how a gift item, a teddy bear with words 'Take Care' embossed on it, attracted the attention of many buyers immediately after he chose to reduce the price from Rs 410 to Rs 390. Two 10-rupee notes led to his sales success, he admits, adding, “It is a typical mindset of people. You need not halve the price of the product to make it more popular, you just need to be clever with numbers when it comes to selling.”

On going online, Pawan Gadia, Vice President, Ferns 'N' Petals says, “The incentive to visit our website is unique. New product range have been introduced, which includes gifts, feng shui, and cakes. Discounts or freebies are other popular ways to attract the shopper to visit us. We attract customers through the potential medium of mailers, offline advertisement of our website.”

Products portraying festive touch and feel are always in demand during that particular festival or occasions. Gift packing, express delivery, re-pricing offers, etc, act as a catalyst in the sale of a product online and offline.

Online retailing has become a special medium to communicate your feelings very, very conveniently and securely, says Manu Agarwal, CEO, ANMsoft Technologies. “Promotions, offers, discounts and scheme are key differentiations in online retailing. Online buyers deserve to attract premium for shopping online. Retailers attract online shoppers with different seasonal product range, heavy discount and offers that they just cannot refuse. From the technology standpoint, we have a separate promotional module that empowers these online offerings and seasonal promotions,” explains Mr Agarwal.

To cater to such a large amount of traffic, there should be proper arrangements for traffic handling, ample amount of memory, server stability factors, et al. As Mr Agarwal comments, “To support heavy seasonal traffic the system needs to be a lot more stable as well. Just as retailers keep their eye on Diwali range, we do the same on their application and servers.”

E-tailers in vogue

Festivals have a special impact on sales on the net as well. While Christmas and New Year have a universal appeal, a lot of the selling business progresses during this time. Indian festivals like Holi, Diwali are the times when bonanza offers make the e-customers dance to their tune.

Abhay Mathur, Head of E-commerce, Jaipur Rajai Arts, says, “The buzzword in any traditional market is sale. Throughout the year buyers wait for end-of-season, Diwali, New Year, Holi discounts. Festival season gets the maximum crowd and this is one huge opportunity for sellers to target niche customers and maintain their loyalty by giving the best products at the best price.”

On being asked how online advertising can be used to promote sales across the country, Mr Mathur said, “Retailers can capture the shopping bug of mall hoppers by running advertisement  banners and providing similar kinds of discounts online so that the customers remain hooked to online buying rather than hopping from one mall to another. During the festive streak, flaunting of jazzy gift packing and serving your customers with express delivery and quality products ensures creation and maintenance of online loyal customers for your products.”

Measure for measure

Establishing a rapport with customers was a challenge lying unmet for young Gaurav Sahai until he opened his first gift-shop outlet with the help of a friend. Gradually he realised that the pattern of sales varied with the seasons, like for example, during the festival seasons he needed more variety, pleasant discounts and a lot more stuff on the shelves for a customer to explore.

This Diwali he is going about meticulously coupling his innovations with his past selling experiences. The second most important choice he has made is going online. This way the number of buyers have widened and many people order online from different countries as well. Mr Gaurav never thought that name, fame and money could come that instantly. “Festivals offer an opportunity for me to use my creative ideas and earn more. Today every retailer is unsure of his business because all the earnings that he makes is generally during this season. I call it 'Dhan Varsha' time (raining of money). It is most important for me to keep my customers happy. They are god-sent to us,” he says in a voice filled with emotions.

Diwali, Id-ul-fitr or X'mas, the festivals keep the retailers on their toes. Whether it is a store or online, shoppers the world-over seek a certain comfort-level with retailers. If the retailer's interest in the customer and his preferences is genuine and his selling demeanor suiting the needs of the customer, then, definitely his sales are going to skyrocket.