E-shopping portals opt for end-season sale

After brick and mortal retail counters began their end of the

season sale much in advance to woo buyers even the booming e-shopping portals have adopted the same strategy to offload old stocks. Zovi.com for instance has marked down prices of certain product categories that move slowly by 15-40 per cent.

The e-platforms feel that offering sales not only helps them get rid of the old inventories and prepare for the forthcoming season but also attract increased number of buyers. Then they also experience repeat customers, who get attracted to the platform. Apart from offloading old stocks, the websites believe that sale season is the best time to also launch new products since the visitor would definitely check it out once on the site.

Myntra.com, which sells brands such as Lee, Wrangler and Nike, is also offering an additional 10 per cent discount over what the brands are offering on purchases above Rs 3,000. For Raksha Bandhan, Myntra is offering sunglasses from Benetton for purchases above Rs 4,000.

Commenting on the future of e-commerce business in India, Arvind K Singhal, Chairman, Technopak Advisors says, “In India, sometime in 2014 or 2015 people will start asking, what do you think of physical retail, so that will be the extent of the change. Every brand should create a separate collection for online shoppers’ convenience and even offer a discount so that there is no competition with the store business.”