With so many enticing offers available, who wouldn’t want to take advantage of discounts? Discounts are widely regarded as a pleasant component of the shopping experience; therefore, it is difficult to find someone who does not appreciate them. Due to rising inflation, consumers are seeking discounts more than ever before.
The Indian retail industry, however, is changing due to the perplexities of discounting strategies, which have undergone a gradual transition over the years. Offering an additional discount has been noticed as inappropriate and unfit for the business in the long run due to value retailing’s unprecedented dominance in the Indian retail market. Markets in India employ discounts as a marketing strategy to draw clients and boost sales. The sales that the manufacturers or stores are offering are typically the basis on which customers base their purchasing decisions.
How the country’s new consumers shop
It is an undeniable fact that customers are always on the lookout for the best deals and discounts available when making purchases. It is well known that people tend to research and compare prices across multiple stores or manufacturers before deciding on a purchase. In this regard, offering sales or discounts can have a significant impact on customers’ purchasing decisions.
While some customers may initially be hesitant to make a purchase, providing discounts and price reductions can help alleviate any reservations they may have. This way, discounts and price cuts can play a crucial role in attracting and retaining customers. By offering these types of promotions, retailers can not only boost sales but also enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Offering discounts is a good way to retain loyal clients. The fact that it frequently costs more to attract a new customer than it does to sell to an existing one illustrates the significance of customer retention. Retailers employ a variety of promotion methods to increase sales.
As a result, shops advertise deals in the marketplaces using incentives like seasonal sales, great exchange offers, discounts up to 60 per cent, and other techniques like coupons. Concurrently, retailer competition is at its highest level ever. Retailers are tirelessly expanding their marketing efforts towards consumers as a result of population and economic expansion. So the sole purpose of providing discounts is to make the overall purchasing experience of buyers pleasant and, most importantly, persuade them to buy a specific product.
The mainstream sectors are doing well in several categories as buyers hunt for larger savings. Promotional sales made up 37 per cent of FMCG product sales in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020–21, while in India, sales over the holiday season made up 33 per cent of uptake in modern trade channels. The holiday season is aiding the market’s recovery, but buyers are looking for bigger and better discounts on the goods they want to buy, making it one of the most important determining factors for purchases. <source>.
Henceforth, you’re already appealing to consumers’ thoughts by including coupons and discounts into your entire pricing and marketing strategy. You must think about how your clients perceive discounts and offers at a higher level if you want to advance your approach.
According to studies, providing a discount can deter customers from looking for the identical item elsewhere. Your ability to be strategic with how you present a discount depends on how clearly you define your basis for doing so. Several significant figures about the use of deals and discounts- 92% of buyers looked for discounts in 2020 before making a purchase and according to reports, 86% of Millennials claimed they might switch brands if they received a coupon discount.<source>
Conclusion
Hence, offering discounts and price reductions is a vital strategy in today’s competitive marketplace. It can help attract new customers and retain existing ones, while also increasing sales and revenue for the business. New shoppers in a country are probably experienced consumers who take advantage of sales and discounts to save money on their purchases. Consumers now have more power at their disposal than ever before as technology develops and competition rises along with it. Therefore, businesses need to change how they offer discounts and accordingly standardise their customer experiences to make it simple for customers to get discounts and coupons for their all time savings.
By Pooja Sodhi, Co-Founder & CEO at Combonation
