Discounts, sales and exchange offers are fast turning into a year-round extravaganza, both for retailers and shoppers alike. But Priyanka Golikeri calls for restraint, who finds these freebies causing more harm than good in the ultimate analysis

The great Indian ‘sale’ trick

Discounts, sales and exchange offers are fast turning into a year-round extravaganza, both for retailers and shoppers alike. But Priyanka Golikeri calls for restraint, who finds these freebies causing more harm than good in the ultimate analysis




Despite having a full understanding of the phrase ‘all that glitters is not gold’, Varun Sharma, like millions of shoppers was blinded by the dazzle of hoardings boasting of an exchange offer scheme by a hypermarket chain.

The hoardings lured shoppers to exchange their old clothes, newspapers, electronic items etc and get coupons that could be redeemed at any of the outlets owned by the chain.

The Bangalore lad who works with an insurance firm was especially enticed to give away his old shirts, trousers and the newspaper heap. The scheme looked lucrative enough, what with each kilo of old newspapers and clothes fetching coupons worth Rs.30 and Rs.250, respectively.

It was only after giving away the newspapers and 2 kg of clothes did he realise that the trick behind the offer. He got those coupons, no doubt. But he could redeem them only after purchasing certain items in that hypermarket at four times the value of the coupons. Thus, to redeem his coupons worth Rs.500, he had to shop for at least up to Rs.2,000.

“I then realised it would have been better had I given those old clothes to some orphanage and sold the newspapers at the neighbourhood raddiwalla,” says Sharma.

Left with almost no choice, Sharma, 27, went for some unnecessary and plentiful purchases, only to redeem those coupons.

Unlike Sharma, banker Namrata Goyal was alert enough to do some background checks before making purchases at an apparel outlet that made a strong pitch for its up to 50% sale programme. Goyal was keen to buy a particular brand of jeans which her friend had only last month purchased for Rs.2,000.

Goyal visited this outlet which was displaying the same brand, but offering a discount. To her dismay, she noticed the pair was available at a 30% discount, but the price tag was Rs.3,000, not Rs.2,000. In effect, it was no discount as she would be paying the same price as her friend.

With an increasing zest for shopping and the rise of malls, hypermarkets and online shopping, discounts, sale and exchange offers are no longer a monsoon or festival season feature. In fact, some malls offer them year round.

According to rough estimates by retail and consumer experts, during the discount and sale period, footfall at any outlet jumps by two- to three-fold, with 75-80 of every 100 customers making some kind of purchase. And instead of any genuine bargain, these discounts often prove deceitful to gullible shoppers, always on the lookout for something cheap.

Consumer rights experts say sale, lottery or allurement are deemed as unfair trade practices according to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. “However, retailers will justify by saying they are passing value to consumers,” says Bejon Misra, founder of Consumer Online Foundation, adding that actually there is no value addition to the consumer as these are plain marketing gimmicks.

Industry watchers believe that retailers play on the basic psychology of people which defines consumer behaviour — attraction towards anything offered cheap. It is basically mental satisfaction for the consumer that he has got a discount, says Uday Wavikar, vice-president, Consumer Courts Bar Association, Maharashtra & Goa, when in reality the “retailers are laughing their way to the bank”.

Wavikar says as most often consumers don’t cross-check on actual pricing, quality of products, and whether the product actually belongs to the brand whose label it displays, it is easy to get duped.
Moreover, freebies like ‘buy 2 get 1 free’ offers are mainly attempts by retailers to clear inventory, says Misra.

Asha Idnani, chairperson of Council for Fair Business Practices, says often products trading at discounts or given as freebies are close to their expiry period. “A person may have the requirement of just 1 bottle of a soft drink, but ends up buying more due to the discount,” says Misra, explaining that there is no tracking system to detect whether “the beverage actually carries the price mentioned on this bottle in this outlet which is trading as a freebie”.

Observers say in places like the US and Australia, consumer councils are rated highly. “Consumers in India who feel cheated can file class action petitions,” says Wavikar. He adds that in India there is a need for a nationwide consumer organisation backed by experts, a laboratory to check and test products and prices to safeguard consumer interests.