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 Some of the buyers are those who shop the
year round, but do so with extra verve around Divali, while others plan
their purchases to coincide with this time so as to take advantage of
the tempting purchase schemes floated by sellers and manufactures. Then,
of course, the fact that everyone seems to be buying something adds
pressure on one to join the bandwagon. "Around Divali I often end
up buying things that I don’t really need because everyone I know
seems to be buying something or the other and I don’t want to feel
left out," feels Rachna Bhargav, a schoolteacher.
It is boom time for
everyone, the habitual shoppers and the impulsive buyers, those on the
shop floors and those behind the counters, those who spend without a
care and those who scrimp and save for Divali. Such is the deluge of
shoppers that marketplaces that seemed empty and spacious just a few
weeks ago now look as if they could do with a few extra acres. Just
standing in any shopping plaza gives one the feeling of the rush,
excitement and festivity in the air. And no one’s complaining. "I
love buying new things for the whole family at this time of the year.
There’s nothing like festivals to attract shoppers to the
markets," smiles Manpreet, a designer and avid shopper. And
shopkeepers are all smiles too. "Our sales double around
Divali," says a beaming manager of a popular cloth store.
To a casual bystander the
only phrase that comes to mind to aptly describe the shopping craze is
sheer madness. Even the sellers appear to have been caught unawares.
"At times so many customers come in that we cannot handle the
deliveries. We tell them to collect their purchases after a couple of
days," says Gautam Mehra, the manager of a major department store.
"People are spending so much these days that it is difficult to
believe that ours is a poor country," remarks a bank official.
Although it might seem as
if the shopping mania is confined to bigger towns, but that is not
strictly true. What is true of the big towns is as true of the smaller
ones. Any product or scheme that is well received in Chandigarh, gets as
warm a reception, if not a better one, in, say, Ludhiana or Amritsar.
"We have people coming from Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and
Yamunanagar to make purchases at our store," says Rakesh Mohunta,
the manager of an upmarket store that sells crystal and watches that
start at a few thousand rupees and go up to more than Rs 1 lakh.
"We have a very good response to even our higher-end wares, and it
is not just the upper but also the middle class that is buying," he
clarifies. It is almost as if the middle class has suddenly discovered
its purchasing power and is not shy to sport all the symbols that say
loud and clear that it has arrived.
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No political rally this. It’s a shopping mela — Photo by Pankaj Sharma
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It’s the classic win-win
situation. Customers have more money than ever before, and, what is more
important, they have the will to spend. They are buying like there is no
tomorrow, and the sellers are happy to oblige with all kinds of discount
schemes, exchange offers, credit plans and free gifts. It works out
wonderfully to the advantage of both. The sellers make unprecedented
sales, while the buyers can finally go home with all the goodies that
they have been eyeing for months.
The shopping mania is
year-round phenomenon but begins after the sharadhas during the
months of October and November. Most businesses see a sharp increase in
volumes, in some cases there is as much as a hundred per cent rise.
"While we otherwise get around 50-100 walk-ins in a day, during the
festival and marriage season the number increases to between 300 and
400," maintains the owner of a jewellery store in Sector 22.
"Last month we sold 15 projection TVs, which are priced between Rs
1.45 lakh and Rs 2.25 lakh. We expect sale of various electronic items
to exceed Rs 1 crore in October-November," volunteers Randeep
Singh, the manager of a Sony showroom.
While the shopping binges
that people embark upon at this time of the year are not really any
thing new since purchases around Divali time have traditionally been
considered auspicious, what is noteworthy is the mind-boggling excess of
it all. One family recently bought a TV, a refrigerator and a double
bed, among other things, at a cost of Rs 1 lakh, even though they
already possessed all these items. It is now no longer enough to have
regular 21-inch-TVs, flat screens in 29 inches and beyond, are a
must-have, people with small music systems want to upgrade to higher-end
ones and those who own medium-size refrigerators go in for bigger models
for no apparent reason except that these are available in the market.
"Our exchange schemes always get a good response. Tell me, why
should anyone want to exchange a refrigerator that is in perfect working
condition for a bigger model except to fulfil the aspiration to have a
big refrigerator?" asks Rajiv Gakhar, the owner of a showroom of
electronic goods.
What is also exceptional
is the change in the buyers’ mindsets. Unlike even a couple of years
ago, people no longer think twice about spending lavishly. "We
recently bought a music system and a 29-inch flat screen TV, both bigger
than the ones we had. We are now looking for a trolley to keep the TV.
We had planned to keep it in the bedroom but since it is so big, we will
have to keep it in another room and now my husband wants to buy a
comfortable sofa to watch TV in that room," says Neelu, a
housewife.
As the traditionally
cautious middle class replaces its time-honoured credo of saving for a
rainy day with its resolve to live it up today, markets are abuzz with
activity. "Saving is alright within limits, but I feel it is more
important to enjoy life. If one has the desire to acquire something,
there is no reason why one shouldn’t do it," opines Manpreet.
"I love to buy new things for the house even if my husband and I
have arguments about it," she adds. And it is precisely this
unabashed self-indulgence that marks the most important shift in
consumer mindsets. People are not reticent about spending on themselves,
to fulfil what at times is nothing more than a whim. "I saw a
flat-screen TV at a friend’s place and since then have wanted to buy
one too. I finally bought it last month, even though my wife felt we
didn’t really need it since the TV we have is in working
condition" says Aman Beri, a bank executive.
Aspirations, and not need,
guides purchase decisions, and these aspirations are suddenly within
reach. There was a time when a prospective customer would only gaze
longingly at goodies in shop windows. But today consumer-friendly credit
terms, ranging from low-interest loans offered by banks to even zero per
cent instalment schemes offered by manufacturers, have made shopping
easy. Everything from cars and home theatre systems to sofas and beds
are available on credit. "Yes, definitely, credit helps. With
credit I can even buy expensive stuff without worrying about blocking my
money," says Amanpreet, an avid shopper. "Such tempting credit
offers are difficult to resist, and more often than not you end up
buying things because credit makes them so affordable" feels
Manpreet.
Credit is not an anathema
any more. The previous generation saw credit as the last resort,
something to be avoided as long as possible because it meant falling
into the dreaded debt trap. But as the source of credit changed from the
corrupt village moneylender to reliable banks and manufactures, people’s
attitude too changed from abhorring credit to welcoming it. "People
have realised that credit is a good thing," feels the bank
official. "Even people who can afford to make cash payments prefer
to take credit because of the zero-interest schemes," points out
Rajiv Gakhar. The fact that people are spending from not their present
but their future incomes means better lifestyles and more purchasing
power today, even if it means smaller bank balances. "People are
also more confident about their ability to generate more money to meet
their aspirations. So if someone wants to purchase, say, an apartment
that seems somewhat beyond his reach, he simply starts looking for a job
that pays better," says the bank official.
As people change from
being small-time savers to being big-time spenders, the ways in which
they celebrate festivals too changes. While Divali has always meant
lights, gaiety, excitement and festivity, but perhaps never before have
markets been marked with the kind of dizzy euphoria one can see this
time around. Goddess Lakshmi, it seems, has finally come into her own.
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THE
trend that was noticed about three years ago is now a full-blown
phenomenon. This Divali everyone seems to be doing three things. The
first is buying, the second is buying and the third is buying still
more. Unbelievable, is the only word that comes to mind when one sees
the astounding number of people crowding shopping plazas. It appears as
if the whole town has congregated on shop floors. There are hordes of
people everywhere buying everything in sight, from low-end knickknacks
to high-end electronic items. Divali has traditionally been associated
with shopping, but what sets this Divali apart is the unprecedented
scale and the unbridled enthusiasm with which it is being done.