Is the party over? No offers this festive season

A DULL DIWALI THIS YEAR? The fragile stock markets have affected the traditional discounts.

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Mumbai: It's festival season and Sunita Mansukhani thought it would be the best time to shop for electronic appliances for her new home. But a visit to the nearby electronic retail store left her a tad disappointed. Gone were the usual freebies, Diwali gifts and attractive discount offers in the festive season.

“We just bought a new house. I thought I'd wait till now and get all the electronic goods but there are very few discounts this year. It is quite disappointing,” Mansukhani said.

What has eaten away those discounts is the weakening of the rupee leading to higher import costs, and the higher prices of components due to inflation.

Even big players like LG and Samsung are holding down prices only until the end of the festival season. So discounts seem to be out of question.

Deputy Managing Director of Samsung Ravinder Zutshi said, “Looking at the market situation today, we are coming close to a chapter end on freebies and discounts.”

Meanwhile, retailers said they are emptying their own pockets to dole out festival offers, fearing that the general market gloom may wean customers away.

Floor Manager, Ethos Electronics, Kapil Khatri said, “We had less sale during Dussehra this year. So we are trying to give some offers to boost the Diwali sales.”

While Promoter of Vijay Sales Nilesh Gupta said that they are dipping into their profit margins to lure customers.

“We have to do such things because, for us, more sales at lower prices are better than low sales,” Gupta explained.

So with no good markets news on the horizon, buying that television or fridge at the price it was last month may actually be a discount in itself.