Festival season means sale time for all the big online stores. And everyone is glued to their computer/cellphone screens trying to bag the best offers and the sweetest deals. From the Amazon Great Indian Festival, to Flipkart's Big Billion Days and Snapdeal's Unbox Diwali Sale, heavy discounts (or what look like it) seem like the order of the day.
Discounts range between 10-70% depending on the product and the website you shop from for everything from apparels, footwear, jewellery, accessories, furniture and home décor, to electronics, cellphones, and more. Most sites also have an additional cash back offered by banks if you use their debit or credit cards to make the purchase. Merchant-offered equated monthly instalments (EMIs) are also credited as another big driver of sales.
Some companies are even giving additional discounts if you make purchases through their app.
According to senior executives at one big e-commerce store, one site is targeting gross sales of at least Rs 3,300 crore from its big festive sale.
QUOTES
I think online sales are just a gimmick. My mom is an active online shopper. In her free time she is always browsing e-commerce sites so she sees stuff and keeps track of things she wants to maybe purchase. and follows stuff, so she's compared few things. Bottom line, most e-commerce sites simply increase the cost of the product and then cite it as discount. As far as the current sales are concerned, I have liked a pair of shoes and I might just pick them up.
Mariette Aranha, Senior Marketing Executive
Well, I usually buy footwear online, simply because I don't normally get my size shoes in Goa. My favourite sites for these are Myntra, Street Style Store, Koovs. However, I do feel that big sales are just advertising and publicity stunts. Why? Because, I feel there is a compromise on quality, most sizes are not available (mostly just s and xs are available), basically, its just a way to finish up left-over stock. So basically I don't bother with the big billion kinda sales.
Aloma Gomes, Commercial tax officer
BOX
Here's some hacks that will help you bag the best offers... and fast
No e-commerce platform offers additional discount for cash on delivery. Hence, choose the mode of payment wisely. Use credit cards/debit cards to get additional discounts.
Clean your browsing history as most e-commerce firms use algorithms to understand what you need and that could impact the prices.
Check your internet connectivity to avoid any glitches.
Register with the websites to checkout faster.
Before you get ready with your laptops however, take a look at the best hacks to get through this sale season.
