Republic Day offers send shoppers in a tizzy
Bengaluru, Jan. 27: A few years ago 26th January was all about catching up on sleep, meeting friends and watching the Republic Day Parade. Not any more.
As branded retailers have opened their doors to customers with irresistible offers, deals and discounts on almost everything, sales have skyrocketed. Most of the retailers Deccan Chronicle spoke to said, the consumer sentiment, which picked up during the Diwali season, is on the rise and has peaked during the long 23rd — 26th January weekend.“In four days of our ‘sabse sastha chaar din’ sale from 23rd to 26th, raked in Rs 225 crore in sales.We had planned well ahead for it and sourcing for the sale began 6 months ago, based on consumer buying trends,”noted Mr Venkatesh Kumar, Business Head, Big Bazaar, South.
Consumers are upgrading all the time and are going in for aspirational products. As a result we have introduced products such as LCD TVs for Rs 19,000 and 12 megapixel cameras at Rs 3,999,” Mr Kumar added.
Other deals offered by the hypermarket were “buy two, get two free” on jeans, tees and casual/formal shirts, combi-pack staples like rice,oil and sugar for Rs 669 and premium 4-burner gas stoves for Rs 5,000 alongwith free kitchenware for the same amount.
“Sales during the Republic Day weekend were largely announced by Electronics retailers and Hypermarkets. While those who have planned meticulously for this sale will easily achieve 7 per cent of the entire year’s sales during this period, others will average around 2 per cent of the year’s sales’ pointed out Mr Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers’ Association of India. Max Retail saw sales spiralling, and noted a 45 per cent increase in sales compared to sales on weekdays, across its 24 stores pan-India. “While our end-of-season sale which offers upto 40 per cent discount commenced on 18th, a special offer of buy for 1,999 and get Rs 250 worth of merchandise free was kickstarted on 26th that will end in a week.” said Mr Vasanth Kumar, executive director, Max Retail Stores.
The positive uplift in consumer sentiment which began during Diwali seems to be growing and will easily continue till March, said Mr Rajesh Seth, VP (Marketing, Central & Brand Factory).
“We achieved double digit growth in sales over last year during the Republic Day weekend with discounts ranging from 10-60 per cent, which we called “Happiness Sale”, he added.
Sangeetha Chengappa
Post new comment