Kerala   

The customer is king

The Onam festival season spells boom time for traders in the city. This year was no exception. Everything from readymade dresses to refrigerators, footwear to MP3 players and cars to furniture sold like hot cakes over the last week.

To cash in on the peak demand, traders pulled out all the stops, exhibiting unexpected levels of enterprise and ingenuity. The stiff competition posed by a slew of new retail shops only served to fuel the race.

Most of the shops spent a fortune on window-dressing. Countertops were given fresh panelling and the interior décor changed. But others resorted to more unconventional methods.

While a hypermarket used a bus to provide free transport to consumers from various parts of the city and the suburbs, a jewellery shop installed a rotating light beam on its terrace. But the star attraction of the Onam crowds was a motorised life-size elephant erected in front of a newly-opened textile shop. Curious onlookers gathered to watch the mechanised pachyderm turn its head, sway its ears and lift its trunk to greet passers-by. Even motorists paused to take a look at the life-like figure.

At least some of the gimmicks employed by the traders have set the cash registers ringing, if the number of footfalls is any indication. Customers swear that the intense competition had resulted in a significant improvement of the quality of service at many outlets.

T. Nandakumar

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