This Diwali, consumers can look forward to great deals for their shopping with smart phones, consumer electronics and apparel brands rolling out steep discounts in brick-and-mortar retail chains as well after offering similar deals in online marketplaces to beat the overall slump that’s affecting their business this year.
Future group states that online sale is largely restricted to mobile phones which as a category is heavily skewed towards ecommerce. However, bulk of apparel sales is still at physical stores.
- Brands such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme, TCL and Kodak are matching prices of their products in retail stores as they did in the online sales
- LG has further dropped television prices
- Discount on smartphones and televisions is up to 30% than the usual selling period
- Future Group and Lifestyle said they were able to match apparel prices this year despite online discounting
- Mumbai’s leading chain Kohinoor Electronics states that average discount on electronics and smartphones is more than
6-10% this year in offline stores
- Chinese smartphone maker Realme said that the brand is giving offers — both online and offline — which may vary from time to time, but are maintaining equal benefits for the customers
Consumer goods makers and retailers have been cautious about this year’s festive season business due to a slowing economy, lack of new jobs and poor consumer sentiment in urban and rural India over the past three quarters. Moreover this year there is a fear that offline business may not pick up after heavy online discounting occurring during Amazon and Flipkart’s shopping festivals.
Thus, brands have realised that there is no point having disruptive pricing for just one channel since it affects their overall sales, especially at stand alone stores. Further, leading electronics chain-Vijay Sales has found that matching the offline-online discounts by brands is helping to drive sales.
It can be concluded that during upcoming Diwali, the age-old business mantra “Customer is King” will stay true to its core.
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