A Shopaholic’s Paradise: Festive Season

A warm festive season has given way to a chill in the air. The heat generated during the festivities that just ended, however, is going to keep the spirits of the marketers alive. The upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities will add fuel to this momentum.

During festivals, stores across the country prepare to welcome millions of shoppers with a wider variety of consumer offers. Every brand tries to get a piece of the pie by running the best offer possible. Reports suggest that companies increased their marketing and promotion budget this festive season as compared to the same period last year.

In this scenario, to assess the buying behavior of consumers, we at Market Pulse attempted to investigate the effectiveness of these consumer promotions. In order to find out if the consumers really grab the dangling carrot, Market Pulse conducted a set of in-depth interviews with a sample of home-makers in Delhi-NCR.

When Market Pulse conducted a survey on various respondents in Delhi- NCR, specifically on the appliances purchase behavior during the festive season, they found that consumers plan their appliance shopping around festive season. Consumers on the other hand postpone their purchases if not urgent, in order to take advantage of the discounts and offers run by the companies. Most of the survey respondents told us that they scan the newspapers for consumer offers during the festive season.

Another section of respondents said that consumer offers and combo deals during festive season motivate their buying behavior and swayed the purchase decisions. Garima from Delhi said, “In August, I saw an ad of a combo deal of Pigeon where I was getting an induction base pressure cooker and pan free with an induction cooker. I really liked the offer and bought it as I needed to buy an induction cooker.”

As preferred shopping destination, emerging malls/ hyper-markets play important role, respondents informed. Consumers have a perception that during festivals they get better options and deals in modern trade outlets. In these stores, the experience of shopping is also enhanced and much relaxed.

Respondents said that they replace their old appliances during the festive season. Exchange offers and discounts influenced brand selection.

But Market Pulse also said they observed that though the consumer offers play a big role in the decision making process, a few other significant points also impact their buying decisions.

Market Pulse report reveals that the brand decision in planned purchases during the festive season is influenced by consumer promotions such as discounts and cash back offers. Some consumer offers such as bundling of an induction cooker with non-stick cookware or an iron free with a water heater, even motivate the consumers to make unplanned purchase of appliances.

This surely gives food for thought for marketers for the next season.