The Ongoing Sham

Yesterday I happened to attend a SKAL get together. After a while the ladies formed a group like in any other Indian social gathering and it did not take long before the topic of conversation drifted to saris and jewellery. It was not very long before someone commented on the on going sale in most of the shops in the city and state. Being the month of Aadi(15th July to 15th August) in the Tamil Almanac, the trend by the retailers is to conduct these massive sales. This vogue seems to be gaining momentum with every passing year and this year it has reached a crescendo. One extra reason could be the poor business turnover due to the ongoing recession.

Everyone in the group had a juicy bit to contribute. There were talks of sales ranging from the lowly 10% to the handsome 50%. Everyone seemed to have hit a bargain and they seemed so proud of their skill and smartness. I sat quiet because I did not want to exhibit my foolishness as it was only prior to the month of Aadi that I had made some big purchases, (Big is a relative term for what is big to me may just be peanuts for some others) The next question that came to my mind was the logic behind the Aadi sales. It is understandable to have a sale during festival times or during the end of a season. That is an accepted world wide phenomenon. Now Aadi is a month that has dual identities. Its first identity is that of a month where all the gods are revered and also a month with innumerable auspicious days. Its second identity is that of a month being taboo for anything auspicious to be performed. This includes marriages, house warmings and the start of any projects be it big or small. However the end of the month of Aadi is greeted by a flood of festivals beginning with Ganesh Chathurthi followed by Navaratri then Deepavali and ending in Christmas/New Year and Pongal. The great marriage season also starts at the end of Aadi. Even though Aadi is a prelude to all these festivities, no purchase is made during this period for anything auspicious.

Keeping all this in mind I am forced to draw a conclusion that the idea behind the Aadi sale is to do away with all the old stock from the previous year, things that did not see the light of day (or the neon light of the shop). When that is the case, is it wise to empty one’s wallet at these bargains? Isn’t it a marketing gimmick by the ever ingenious retailers to stay afloat? Isn’t the gullible consumer being taken for a ride? The logic could be that you get what you pay for. When you pay less, you get less. The funny thing about these SALES is the board that reads, “Goods once sold will not be taken back.” Do we really need this Aadi sale which in more ways than one has become a nuisance to the normal consumer? (There is no way he or she can walk into a shop and go about their normal shopping and again the traffic jams caused by the bargain hunters is definitely not a pleasant experience.) Also, the advertisement tamasha that greets the readers of the dailies is most garish and undesirable. It is also learnt that in most cases the price of the product is raised prior to the sale so that there is no loss incurred. Another way of looking at a SALE is the lowering of the atrocious prices that existed before these SALES. However it goes without saying that the word SALE is a psychological tool that works well on the human mind (especially that of the women folk) and has been proved thus ever since the retailing business began.

Since it is not within me to stop the SALE culture, all I can do is to sit back and endure this menace year in and year out. The only saving grace for me is the fact that the shops were I go shopping are yet to join the SALE bandwagon. This to me is definitely a point of relief. I wonder why these shops stay out of the fray. Could it mean that they always sell goods at the right price, keeping in mind the money conscious buyers or could it be that they were so dead sure of their quality and thus certain that their customers won’t move away from them. Either of the two reasons suited me fine for in the first instance it meant that I was patronizing some fair priced stores and with the second reason it meant that I was getting quality goods worth every penny I spent. I could not mention any of this to the crowd that evening as they would have eaten me alive. Not for them the logic of fair priced shops and quality goods. To them the mantra was that “A sale is on and a killing has to be made”.