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Brands at a budget
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The massive end-of-season clearance sale has come to stay. PRASSANA SRINIVASAN surveys what's on offer
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DISCOUNT HUNTER A: Is there another scarf like the one you're holding, on display?
Discount hunter B: Sorry. Looks like this is the last piece.
A: (green-eyed): Are you going to pick that one?
B: Yes (smiling with pride). It's really pretty and going at half price.
Not to be outdone by B's answer, the hungry scarf seeker (A) follows B all around the store, hoping B will drop the scarf or maybe put it down while looking at a gorgeous shirt.
At the women's wear section, B puts her basketful of shopping down to look at a pair of jeans. Grabbing the opportunity, A walks towards her and drops her stuff in B's basket, `accidentally'.
A: Oops, I'm so sorry. (She picks up the scarf along with her other stuff, and speeds away).
B: (following frantically) I think you took my scarf `by mistake.'
B manages to get her scarf back but the chase and sneaky stratagems continue until a frustrated B bills the scarf alone, hands it to the stern security guard and resumes her shopping.
Any resemblance of this scene to a film sequence, a cartoon strip or persons living is completely intentional. Though it may seem incredible, this is a typical scene at any of the end-of-season sales in the city's many multi brand outlets (MBOs). The discounts are massive, the billboards advertising them all over the city and the budget shoppers extremely excited.
Trendy clothes and top brands at rock bottom prices make for great shopping, but for the stores, it's just an annual stock clearing exercise. "The stock clearance sales are held twice a year — spring-summer and autumn-winter. And our stock taking period means the customers get great value for money," says Sumanth Kotha, marketing manager, Shoppers' Stop.
"I do my annual shopping during the sale because it works out less expensive," says Prasad, who got himself three pairs of trousers. "Of course, it took me three full hours to try each piece and another hour to get my stuff billed," he adds. The stores' sale time resemblance to mazes full of greedy shoppers proving Darwin's lines about survival of the fittest doesn't deter the determined customer.
The long lines leading up to the trial rooms may put off a first timer, used to near empty shops, but sale-scarred veterans usually come out of the battle with flying colours — brandishing their bright, overflowing plastic bags as flags of victory.
According to Amitabh Suri, product manager, Indian Terrain, this concept has been inspired by the West.
He says the trend has caught on for the last couple of years. Indian Terrain, the Chennai-based brand for men's clothing also offers sale of the surplus stock during this season.
"The sale facilitates long-term brand equity with the customers." He feels this way of communicating with the customers will help in bringing them back to the store even when there is no sale. However, the unsold stock during the sale is donated to charitable organisation by some of these stores. In the case of Pantaloons, apart from the sale twice a year, the unsold stock goes to the factory outlet where it is sold at half price all year round. Although the sale has been introduced four years back, it has been extended to the women's section recently.
Replacing old stock and displaying new ones also help keep track of the changing trends. Last season, it was salwars and short tops, this year the trend has changed to kurtis and salwars with bell-bottom kameez. The sale also indicates what's in and what's out, says an official from Pantaloons. The merchandising or the design team in most shops decides the trend for the coming year through various survey and research. "However, during the sale, shops are normally crowded in the evenings and weekends, the best time to shop in your own pace will be in the afternoon." Some shops such as Globus also have happy hours during this off peak time and offer additional discounts for its members.
While most shops offer discounts up to half the price, some brands such as Zodiac rent separate halls for the sale. This way they are able to reach the market better. "The sale is a real temptation for even those who think twice before buying a piece off the shelf. However, it is only when I get my credit card bills that I realise how much damage the bank balance has suffered due to the sale," claims another avid shopper.
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