The Hindu Business Line : Marketers geared to cash in on V-Day shopping

IT'S that time of the year again. Taking a cue from their Western counterparts, companies here have started regarding Valentine's Day as an annual mega-event with a potential for manifold increase in sales.

Red hearts, flowers, balloons and valentine greetings decorate lifestyle and retail stores. Shops are brimming with offers and discount sales, all in an attempt to cash in on the February 14-hype.

While watches and jewellery are popular among the masses, restaurants and cafés too are trying to lure customers. It's the numbers that do the talking. Many companies expect a many fold increase in their sales and revenues on Valentine's Day, which they consider to be the biggest festival after Diwali and New Year.

And true enough, they all wish to capitalise on it by announcing a variety of promos and offers.

Says Mr Pawan Gadia, V-P, Ferns `N' Petals Group, "There has been a 20 per cent growth in flower purchases on a yearly basis." And this year is no different.

"We expect huge sales increase on V-day itself," he adds. FNP has designed four-feet-tall bouquets along with chocolate boxes and cakes to be delivered at homes.

The concept of gifting is gradually evolving. Earlier, it was just cards and flowers, but now they are accompanied by a whole lot of gifts including perfumes, watches and jewellery.

For Archies, the cards and gifts major, the day is of immense importance. It contributes to nearly six per cent of their annual turnover. "We have numerous offers to satisfy customer needs," says a company spokesperson. The company has introduced musical cards for the occasion priced between Rs 199 and Rs 250.

It's not just cards and gift shops that expect enhanced sales.

Even fast food majors such as Pizza Hut have joined the list. Mr Arvind Mediratta, CMO, Yum! Restaurants, feels, "People are on the constant look out for value-addition. Pizza Hut is offering them a free cake with select combinations." He adds that Valentine's Day is one of the festivals when sales are the highest for the company.

Retail chains too have lined up special promotions for the day. Mr Bipin Gurnani, COO, Piramyd Mega Store, says, "We find that fine jewellery, cosmetics, watches and perfumes have maximum sales during the period, and we are running many offers on them." "We experience nearly 25 to 30 per cent jump in our sales," he says.

In fact from a one-day event, Archies has turned it into a week-long celebration. Its stores sport posters demarcating a chocolates day, a rose day, a teddy bear day and so on. Meanwhile, others hope that stretching the celebration will keep their cash registers ringing as well.

V. Rishi Kumar reports from Hyderabad

This time around the traditional hype seems to be missing and a more focussed marketing approach seems to be the order of the day.

Instead of saying it with traditional cards and flowers, it has become a lot more innovative, what with romantic ring tones for the mobile-SMS-crazy generation.

Ace Jewels, part of $250-million KP Singhvi group, which has a pan-India presence in malls and lifestyle boutiques, has unveiled its Valentine Love collection of branded diamond jewellery here, as is the case with several others.

A stroll into a music store makes for interesting trends. Music companies have bundled most of the popular love songs innovatively.

Not to be left behind, the hospitality industry too is cashing in on this marketing opportunity, bundling offers for this special day.

Popular Web sites such as Rediff, Samachar and Sify, among a host of others, have separate sections offering visitors an option to take advantage of a host of services through their partner companies.