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| Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
SALE!
SALE! SALE! How I love the sound of these words. Shopping seasons like
Christmas, New Year, local festivals are a time of intense bliss. There is
nothing better than finding that pair of shoes at just the right bargain price.
It's only when the season is over that one realizes that the purse strings need
to be tightened. No more bargain-price-induced shopping sprees for me, thank
you very much.
And if
the average shopper thinks anything like me then businesses have a big problem.
Moreover, their marketing teams will be under pressure to come up with the next
big idea to get the cash registers singing again.
For the B2B marketers these lean periods are the ideal
time to plan and re-strategize (Do B2B Marketers
Hibernate Come Christmas, New Year and Financial Year-end?). While
B2Cs need to focus on identifying their near-future plans, they do not have the
luxury to stop and think. Its all about getting the most of that time.
To tap the off-season Jet Airways recently came up with the Low-Fare
Bonanza in the Indian market. By offering 20 lakh low fare seats
(as low as $50, inclusive of all taxes), for a one-way journey on over 450
daily flights across 57 destinations they attempted to garner volumes during
the impending lean season(1). Needless to say most other airlines followed
suit. Like they had a choice!
Another industry which is often hit hard by the lean season is hospitality. But, this time, if you had your eyes open, you could have picked
some great packages from luxury hotels. Luxury suites packed with add-ons
like spas, airport transfers in Audi sedans, complimentary breakfasts
at the Oberoi in Mumbai, India were coming at mere $360 - a 72% cut from the
standard rates. Royal suites at the Leela Palace Udaipur are being offered at
$1400 for two nights. As a standard you will only be able to access these
suites at $1500/night(2). So how can hoteliers afford cutting down the
costs for these luxury suits? What we need to keep in mind is that it's all
about redistributing the demand without drastically reducing the profitability.
OTAs like Expedia, MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip have some neat packages
of their own to tackle the off-season and pack in bookings for the year. By
having access to immense data on the booking patterns, vacation schedules and
popular destinations they are able to analyze and offer deals like $70-$100 off
on return bookings and 10% off on hotels + air bookings.
Auto-makers are not far behind in offering salivating deals to
counter the slump market is undergoing. Increasing fuel prices, slowing down of
economy, higher road taxes all contribute to customers shying away from buying
new cars. Discount deals offered by leading auto brands are perhaps going to
turn the tide. One can buy a new Volkswagen by paying half the price at the
time of buying and the other half after an year. Maruti is offering a 12.5%
rebate on ex-showroom prices and a three-day paid trip to a location
of choice by paying an additional $27. Tata is offering a buy-back scheme on its Manza sedan, where the company would offer to buy the
car back after 3 years for 60% of the purchase price (3).
So it's back to battling my instinct to go into another shopping spree. I could do
with a luxury vacation with travel and stay at half-prices. Or, a new car since
I don't have to worry about paying for it for another one year.
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