Despite special offers, sales dip for electronic goods in shradh season

Despite special schemes and discounts being announced by electronic companies to lure customers during the ongoing shradh period, sales have registered a dip.

"During this time, the footfall in electronic stores decreases drastically by 50 percent. There are now about 150 customers daily as compared to 300 on a normal basis," said the manager at a multi-brand electronic showroom in Sector 26.

He further says that during the shradh period, when costumers are reluctant to buy new things, only 10 percent of the queries turns into sales.

The number of consumers making advance booking for the upcoming festive season, however, is on the rise.

Though the companies, as well as electronic store owners, offer freebies with the purchases, especially keeping in mind this lean period, yet the consumer response is usually mixed.

The free gifts that one can get on televisions, range from a blu-ray DVD player, to movie DVDs, to 3D glasses and web-cameras.

On microwaves, one can get a microwave kit, accessories and an extendable warranty of upto three years. A particular brand has been offering its customers free mobile phones with any purchase of refrigerators and washing machines.

Electronic stores, too, are offering exchange schemes for used gadgets and delayed payment with EMI options for the customers to book a gadget now, with the complete payment to be made at a later date of delivery.

"In November, as the festive shopping picks up, the prices of gadgets are only supposed to go up. If a customer books a product now, even if the prices go up, they are not concerned and the product will land up at their home on a desired date," said the sales manager at a electronic store in Sector 22.

However, companies feel that the consumer perception is changing. "The young people do not seem to mind the season, but they have be the first to buy the latest gadget," said Mehak, a sales girl at an electronics store in Sector 26.

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