Shop But Don't Drop

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It’s that time of the year when you should keep your worries aside and participate in the joyous occasion of Diwali, the festival of lights. And with a festival of this scale, can shopping be ignored? Definitely not. Small wonder then that companies and retailers are stepping on each other’s toes in a frenzied melee to lure the shoppers with all kinds of offers for a wide variety of products ranging from hair oil to flat screen computers and chocolates to air-conditioners. There is advertising everywhere, from those in the newspapers to the huge hoardings, from television commercials to radio spots. The railway stations, airports, shopping malls, cinema halls… almost each and every place is packed with fancy advertisements trying to attract the attention of the consumers. And the thing is that most of the shoppers fall into the net spread by the sellers. At times, this proves to be a costly mistake. Therefore, the best thing is to be cautious. Shop for what you really want rather than what companies want you to purchase.

Global Phenomenon
This buying spree during any festival is not unique to our country alone but is truly a global trend. What differs is the timing. In India, for instance, the highest recorded sales are during Dusshera and Diwali while in Europe and the USA the peak is reached during Christmas while in the Middle East countries it happens during the month of Ramadan. Psychologically speaking, why do most of us tend to splurge in such a fashion only during a festival? “The real reason behind people turning into seasonal shopaholics and very often regretting it later can be attributed to cultural adrenaline. A festival means celebration and celebration requires items that are to be used during that time which includes gifts for kith and kin, and friends. So, but naturally, the purse strings are loosened during festivals,” reasons Dr Swati Kashyap, Senior Consultant and HOD, Behavioral Medicine, Fortis La Femme.

The Game Plan
To exploit the potential of the market to its fullest, the customers’ psyche plays a vital role and nowadays companies pay special attention to devising various way and means of impacting the conscious or subconscious buying decisions of the customers. This includes all kinds of discount offers, exchange schemes, free gifts, etc. The bottomline is to play upon the temptation factor. “Companies usually target their customers through very cleverly designed advertisements. We see and ignore them but they have a tremendous impact on the subconscious mind, the effect of which is seen when we go out to shop for specific products.[PAGE BREAK]

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It’s the advertising that keeps working at the back of our mind and goads us into taking certain decisions,” points out Dr Kashyap. Another level at which the customers’ decisions are influenced is on the shop floor of any showroom. Such is the convincing power of the sales staff that consumers often end up buying things that are not really required. And for those who may not have ready cash, well, there are quite a few of the financial schemes with the easy monthly installment option. Of these, discounts play a major role and serve as a lethal weapon in any company’s repertoire. Psychologically it inculcates a sense of urgency in the customer’s mind. This feeling, coupled with the already existing mental preparation to buy goods during festival time, plays an important role in ‘heavy’ buying of such products as LCD television sets, music systems, washing machines, microwave processors, and so on. More often than not, as Dr Kashyap observes, it is the emotional pull that works the best. “The recent trend is to use the element of love for family members and friends or someone very special to induce a person to buy something. Emotion is the password for unlocking the human subconscious mind without conscious realisation. Via this strategy, a company is able to snare customers into buying things that logically have no direct relationship with the nature of the festival,” she states.

Be A Smart Shopper
Given this scenario, it is best to be very conscious while going out for shopping during a festival. Believe in the mantra that you, the customer, is the king and therefore it is your wish or desire that must come first rather than falling prey to the machinations of a company doing its best to trap you. “There are many products in the market that offer fabulous benefits to the customers during the festive season but it is up to the customer to make a wise decision and not get lured by the fringe offers of no real value,” states a senior official of Reliance Retail. “In this season the best deals available are mostly on consumer durables, electronic items, expensive mobile phones, furniture, and vehicles as these are the products that bear high value and people usually wait throughout the year for the festive season to avail of discounts. The companies devise their marketing strategies accordingly,” says Akhil Kapoor, Director-Finance, M M Advertising. All this is also due to the severe competition that exists in the market. Each company is therefore under tremendous pressure to provide the best offer so as to get the customer to buy its products. [PAGE BREAK]

Here, one of the strategies is to provide a ‘bundle’ offer which means that if you buy an expensive LCD television set, an air-conditioner would probably be given free or at a major discount. But such offers have to be considered with a sharp perspective. For instance, a person staying in cold climes would have no use for an air-conditioner and would be unnecessarily saddled with this product.

Act With Restraint
All that glitters is certainly not gold. To go by that maxim, everything that is sold during Diwali is not cheap. Therefore, the options must be considered seriously before stepping into your shopping shoes. “During Diwali and Navratri season many products are treated as purchases of compulsion and customers certainly have to earmark a fixed amount each year. This includes clothes, shoes, house decoration items, utensils, gold jewellery, etc. It’s more like a ritual than just shopping but customers often tend to sometimes buy more than their budgets will allow,” says a Big Bazaar official. Due to the high tempo of sales during the festive season companies usually withdraw all the offers on these products as they know that in any case they can easily achieve their sales targets. In such a situation it is always better to show restraint and shop up to a pre-defined limit in order to fulfill the ritual bindings. In fact, for clothes and shoes customers can get better offers and discounts on August 15 or January 26 and during the end of season sales. So it is advisable to do the shopping in that period,” Kapoor states.