Kathmandu, October 4:

Special discounts, bumper offers, scratch and win and many more — this has been the trend during the festive season these days.

“Festive offers and schemes are complementary,” Rudra Bahadur Bhattarai, general secretary of Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN) said. Be it television, radio or the print media, everywhere there is a rash of advertisements promising special features and trying to attract customers.

“People get information about various offers through advertisements apart from helping sales grow and establish the brand in the market,” he said, adding that during the festive season people tend to spend 50 per cent more than usual and the tendency is enhanced by the different credit and finance facilities now available.

According to an advertisement strategist, extra offers that companies provide during the festival season contribute to 60 per cent of the total sales made throughout the year.

“Top items sold during festival are liquor, readymade garments, household items and kitchenware,” according to Swati Mohpal, sales and marketing manager at the Bluebird mall. “Our sales have increased to approximately 50 per cent in comparison to the normal days,” Mohpal said adding that in recent days trend has definitely changed as advertisements help customers to choose the best of what they want and need.

Agreed, Amitesh Roy, marketing executive at HIM Electronics Pvt Ltd, “Offers and schemes add to the festive mood. We provide incentives so that consumers celebrate the festival with full enthusiasm. “Samsung provides a number of offers under its schemes like Chance ma Dance, and the core thing behind it is the festival,” he added.

With its free silver coin scheme, Peter England also is attracting customers this season, according to Vivek Agrawal, retail head of Peter England at its Putalisadak showroom. “Customers hunt for the best possible offers during Dashain,” he said adding that customers can shop and at the same time get a free silver coin.

Talking of offers, schemes and advertisements, Jyoti Acharya, senior media executive at Mars Pvt Ltd said that without advertisements no product can establish itself in the market. “There is always a right time for the right thing. And festive season is the right time for schemes and offers. During festival season, people have greater capacity for spending as they are flush with their bonus.”

“Earlier, banks did not use to advertise and only some established organisations and companies used to advertise,” Acharya said.

As the trend of advertising is increasing, the number of advertising industries are also increasing.

“There are more than 400 advertising agencies but only 175 are in operation,” vice-president of AAN Raj Kumar Bhattarai said, adding that out of them 115 are AAN members.

The advertising industry has around 2.75 billion transaction. During festive season the trend of advertisement goes into hyper mode, with companies launching a media blitz to collar customers.