Online fashion commerce is a rapidly growing industry in India, with 60 million online fashion shoppers at present. From time to time, online brands roll out sales campaigns like End of Reason sales or Big Billion Day, offering massive discounts on products. However, is there a real reduction in the prices or it is just a marketing strategy?
SPIKE IN SALES
According to the latest report by Ace Turtle, there is a “peak growth of 417% in orders during particular sales event days”.¬† However, the average reduction in prices is just 17%, which cannot be termed a significant one. Thus, the seemingly “hard-to-miss” deals aren’t really so.
DISCOUNTS ON SALES DAYS ARE A MYTH
As against the popular myth, there isn’t an additional discount offered during sales event days. “The average discount during non-sales event days is 47% which climbs up only to 50% during sales event days. The myth that brands indulge in deeper discounting during¬†the sales¬†period as compared to non-sales period is not really true”, the report stated.
EVERYBODY’S BUYING FOOTWEAR?
The number of footwear orders increased by 32% metro cities and by 105% in non-metro cities. Apparel and accessories sales went up by 50% and 76% respectively.
It is important to keep in mind is the fact that although the sales surged, the decrease in average selling prices was not more than 7% as compared to non-sales days!
While such discounts seem to be lucrative, it is important to understand that the discounts given are on the MRP of the product and not on its actual value. Thus, these discounts are bigger than they appear. We may sometimes be lucky enough to find the latest products at discounted rates, but generally, the items up for sale are already available at lower prices.
It is therefore important to be aware and compare prices, before actually buying a product on sale.
