Special offers and discounts to boost V-day sales

Young couples shop for Valentine's Day; Source: WSJ blogs

Brands are giving special offers and discounts in the hope that shoppers will open their wallets as Valentine's Day approaches.

"Valentine's Day is a very important day for us. It validates our business model. We expect 15% to 20% of the total sales to be generated on this day," said Varun Vummudi, CEO, Giftology.com, a Bangalore based online gifting platform. For Valentine's Day, the website is offering vouchers to shoppers for Salsa India's live dance classes. The site has tied up with various merchants to expand the gifting options for customers.

Similarly, Jabong.com, a popular e-commerce website is offering 750 brands including perfumes and jewellery at discounted prices. Tradeus.in, another e-commerce website, has launched Valentine's Day special jewellery, fragrances, watches, lingerie, apparels, flowers and cakes. The website is offering up to 85% discount on these products.

Restaurants and café houses too are pepped about the day. "Valentine's Day is a very special day for us. Since it's a weekday this year, therefore the revenue will be four to five times more than what we would have typically generated on a regular weekday," said Sanjay Kapoor, marketing manager of Thank God It's Friday (TGIF).

The US-origin restaurant will offer a four-course meal for Rs 899, including appetizers and wine. Similarly, the Beer Café in Gurgaon will launch an exclusive Estrella Damm Inedit Beer in cooperation with the brew masters of Estrella Damm, a Catalan pilsner. The pub will also offer Valentine special platters to the diners.

Café Coffee Day, the biggest coffee chain in India, is celebrating a Valentine's week and is offering meals for Rs 199. "Our customers on Valentine's Day primarily consist of school and college students and therefore we offer them the best of schemes at the lowest prices," said a Café Coffee Day manager who did not wish to be named.

The Delhi based restaurant chain Cocoberry too has come up with six new flavours at a price of Rs 99 for people visiting their stores on 14 February.

In Chandigarh, however, no special offers are being given by gift stores, even though they have brought in new stock for Valentine's Day.

The manager of the only Hallmark store in Chandigarh says, "We have cards and gifts for Valentine's Day, but we are not offering any discounts. The market in Chandigarh is not big enough to make profits through discount offers."

The Archies stores have a range of new gift options for both men and women. A store owner said, "Not many people are now buying physical gifts. It is difficult to make profits if we provide special offers. Most people buy fancy stuff online, which is why online stores are offering various kinds of discounts." Other store managers also mentioned that the sale of cards has been decreasing and is at least 20% less than last yeast.

Chandigarh's retail chains may not be much excited, but the local shops have their stock ready. A gift shop in Sector 8 has been decorated for Valentine's Day and has its shelves full of heart-shaped goods, including soft toys, watches, phones, pen stands, photo frames and a range of other gifts. The DLF mall in Chandigarh has also been decorated in the Valentine theme of red and pink hearts.

Clothes and apparel stores are displaying red, white, pink and black as colours of the month. A Meena Bazar store manager said, "We are banking on the large number of parties that happen in Chandigarh to increase our sales. It is a good time to pamper your love with new clothes."

Chandigarh's youth have mixed feeling about the celebrations. While couples are ready to party, the single men are unhappy. "14 February used to be a good opportunity for us to propose to the girl we liked. However, with girls becoming very careful and the police proactive, we fear there will be consequences to a harmless proposal," says Kshitij, a student of Khalsa College. The girls of MCM DAV college say they will celebrate Valentine's Day with a "girls' day out, rather than with the boys who cannot be trusted with anything".