Discounts, irresistible deals entice virtual shoppers in festive season

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Rahul Vaishnavi | 23 Oct, 2012
From electronics to jewelry, home decorations to apparel, people high on festive fervor are logging onto various e-commerce websites to shop as they decorate their houses or pamper themselves with ethnic wear, jewelry and a host of other items.

The heavy discounts are only making the deals sweeter as one can shop from the cool comfort of home, avoiding the hustle-bustle in markets during the festive season.

Sites like fashionandyou.com, snapdeal.com, jewelskart.com and many others say that sales have increased by as much 20 to 30 percent and in some cases have even doubled since the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi on Sep 21.

"There was lull during the 15-days shraad period as people refrain from buying new stuff during those days, but immediately after that, sales have surged," Aasheesh Mediratta, director (sales) at Fashionandyou.com told IANS.

He said great business is expected till Diwali (Nov 13) with Durga Puja (that began Saturday), Dussehra, Eid-Ul-Azha and Dhanteras falling in between. And even after that, Christmas and New Year celebrations, as well as Lohri and Valentines' Day (in early 2013) will ensure healthy sales.

Popular portal homeshop18.com is offering 'Navratri combo offers' with ethnic wear like sarees and kurtis combined with jewelry and priced between Rs.550 and Rs.4,000.
Similarly, jewelry combos are also on offer, priced between Rs.600 and Rs.3,000. A typical combo consisting of a necklace, pendant, bracelet and two pairs of earrings will set you back by Rs.1,000 after a discount of 60 percent.

The hot-selling products on fashionandyou.com include Diwali decorations like fancy lamps and lights, gift items including exquisite diyas, candles and incense sticks and idols of goddess Laxmi and Ganesha with prices starting from Rs. 200 and going up to Rs. 2,000.

"By far the best selling products are ethnic apparel like lehengas, kurtis and churidars," said Mediratta adding that festivals were the perfect occasion for women to dress to the nines.

Agreed, Peyush Bansal of jewelskart.com, an online jewelry store, who said that apart from the usual gold coins and god idols, jewelry like bracelets and necklaces were selling like hot cakes.

"Women love jewelry and what better way to celebrate the festivities than with a nice bracelet or necklace," said Bansal.

Witnessing growth of around 40 percent in sales, special offers by jewelskart.com include 25 percent off on jewelry and a 10 percent rebate on gold coins plus a five gram silver coin free.

Gift items start from Rs.699 and include an exquisite, 24 karat gold plated set of playing cards which can be bought for Rs.999.

The silver plated lord Ganesha and goddess Laxmi idols are priced between Rs.600 and Rs.1,500. The site also giftwraps the products for free.

Electronic items still remain a craze for consumers.

Electronic devices like digital cameras, mobile phones and fancy pen drives are the most popular gift items, said Sandeep Komaravelly, vice-president (marketing), Snapdeal.com.

"We are seeing a lot of sale in our electronics categories. Sales have increased, though we are also anticipating a further hike of more than 50 percent," he added.

Special offers on Snapdeal include a buy-one-get-one-free offer on low end mobile phones, cash discounts on LCD television sets, digital cameras, home appliances and combo offers on laptops, flash drives.

Apart from the special offers, products and discounts which are pivotal reasons behind the surge in sales, the fact that people can shop from the comforts of their homes and get free delivery is a major attraction.

"It's a fact that during the festive season, markets are chock-a-block with traffic and shoppers. So, online sites definitely have an advantage as it saves a lot of time, energy and fuel," said 28-year-old Rakshita Kalra who has bought a laptop from Snapdeal.com for her younger brother as a Diwali gift.

* Rahul Vaishnavi can be contacted at rahul.v@ians.in