The festival season begins in September with the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, October with Dusshera, and hits peak in November with Diwali; then there is a brief respite before Christmas and New Year close the season. The ‘Sale’ period hits in February/March and then it is a lull till summer holidays. It’s August when stocking for the Season begins again. This cyclic nature of shopping makes stores plan the numbers and this fervour does not die. Even with economic curtails that loom large with new introductions to taxes and duties.
Does shopping during Sales impact the growth of the industry?
There are Sale periods at least twice a year in the brief times when there is an interval in festivals. Retail outlets and Malls mark down the prices, and there is surge of shoppers. Well established brands are flooded with buyers. But does this impending task hit the bottom-line of stores? Government curtails on spending by way of new taxation augurs an impediment to finances; increases in customs duty, new taxes, GST, and then hidden taxes all are detrimental to the balance sheet. Buyers are there, but will buy at low costs. It is a tough to be profitable. Some stores increase their prices before the Sale period only to mark it down to regular rates during a sale. The perception that one has got a bargain is the pull.
Hence, despite of the incremental rise in petrol prices and its effective domino impact on all goods, the economy appears to be on a roll. Price rise seems not to affect the individual. Though shopping is on a high, the number of items bought may reduce, so instead of five, it could be four. Such is the negligible effect on purchases, since the number of days and events surrounding festive days don’t shrink. In these days of social media posts, one fears to repeat outfits. And there we buy more.
Retailers catch on the emotional and shopping psychology of an individual. This is the reason that boosts sales despite of the dip in the value of the Indian rupee. The deluge of consignments in low cost items has inundated the market. Higher priced products are also bought. Designer wear is the new norm. Stores offer discounts, incentives, and other offers on goods, even go as far as financing buys with deferred payment options. So we shop. Weekends and evenings see higher footfall in malls across the country.
This foretells a positive economic impact. In fact there is an apparent growth in the economy during the season. The diversity of India being that every month or so there is a festival. Officially, India celebrates 51 festivals in a year, consisting of 17 nationally recognised festivals. That is a lot of money movement, as with all festivals, there is a purchase for oneself, home, gifts, and anything fancies the eye.
So while we have it good, let’s go buy something. The prices will be altered higher post Diwali.
(The writer is Chief Managing Director with Mitashi Edutainment)