Festive season- The bonanza for sales in India

India is a heterogeneous country with people of different faiths living in unity. Each of these people celebrate different festivals, auspicious days, and special occasions throughout the year, and buying new items is a part of these extravagant celebrations. The Indian market is sentiment-driven, people believe in spending a lot on these auspicious days as they believe that buying on a particular day would bring in good luck and charm. Apart from the superstitious side, certain days are dedicated to shopping during festivals like Diwali, Rakshabandhan, Christmas, etc. During these times, the market blooms exponentially.

With the changing times, marketers have also started placing their advertisements and promotions during or just before festivals. E-commerce websites particularly host ‘Great Indian Sale’ or ‘Mega Diwali Sale’ or ‘Holi Sale’ and so on to cater to the high demands during these times. They present offers and discounts to encourage people to purchase even more during these times. If we look at advertisements around the festive season, we can see that the central theme is about celebration, family bonding, exchanging gifts, and then the product or sale is introduced, sending a message to include that particular brand in the celebrations.

Cadbury, a popular chocolate brand, has been successfully using festivals for decades. As soon as a festival is about to approach Cadbury centers an ad around it, positioning itself as the essential part of these festivals. Other brands are jumping on this bandwagon too, and we are seeing extensive marketing campaigns, merchandising, etc targeted towards auspicious days.

If we understand the market dynamics carefully, India is a price-sensitive market, people tend to spend only on things that seem economical to them, but during these days, the festive spirit takes over and it makes buyers ignore the price tag and spend promptly. Additionally, the discounts and promotions further encourage purchasers.