Festival Season Sees Soaring Sales, Offers, Discounts

Festivals are a time when the economy experiences a significant boost. All the sectors keep a keen eye on customers, aiming to allure them with various kinds of offers. The recently concluded Amazon's Great Indian Festival sale and Flipkart's Big Billion Day sale have captured the attention of customers. At least 9.5 crore customers visited the site in the first 48 hours of Amazon Great Indian Festival 2023, as per Amazon data.

When such sales are announced and more are expected during the festival season, most banking companies launch offers to encourage the maximum use of their cards. As this time is considered the best time to promote brands with different offers.

Kotak Mahindra Bank launched its 'Khushi Ka Season (KKS) program during Flipkart's The Big Billion Day sale across the Flipkart Group, including Myntra Big Fashion Festival and ClearTrip. The offers are available for Kotak Credit Card as well as Debit Card customers, with an option to pay on EMI.

Frederick Dsouza, Business Head - Credit Cards, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, 'With attractive offers on Flipkart, Myntra, Cleartrip, MakeMyTrip, and Zomato, we hope to make this year's shopping extravaganza even more special for customers. We are already seeing this in our Y-o-Y spend growth, which has roughly doubled.'

During the Great India Festival Sales, the Amazon site experienced the highest-ever sign-ups for Amazon Pay UPI in the first 48 hours. Additionally, the e-commerce brand has partnered with SBI for credit card, debit card, and EMI options, offering a 10 per cent instant discount to over 35 crore Indians, the company said. 

The Amazon Pay ICICI Co-Branded Credit Card usage grew by 65 per cent, giving customers 5 per cent unlimited cashback rewards.

Other than this, ICICI Bank also launched 'Festive Bonanza', with exciting offers, discounts and cashback of up to Rs 26,000 for its customers at the onset of the festive season. "The customers can avail of these benefits by purchasing various items from their favourite brands by using ICICI Bank's credit/debit cards, internet banking, UPI via Rupay credit cards and Cardless EMI. These offers are also available to the customers in the form of no-cost EMIs using the Bank's credit/ debit cards", the bank said in a statement. 

Rakesh Jha, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, "The customers can avail of these offers using ICICI Bank's credit/ debit cards, internet banking, UPI transactions with ICICI Bank Rupay credit cards and Cardless EMI. Besides this, the Bank will also be introducing special festive offers on its products - home loans, auto loans and two-wheeler loans. We hope these offers will add immense joy and fervour to our customers during this festive season."

On the other hand, Srinivasan Parthasarathy, MD & CEO, Go Digit Life Insurance said that buying term life insurance is a true gift of protection and is one of the best ways to ensure your family's future is taken care of in your absence.

Not only e-commerce but real estate players are also making significant investments during this festive season. In the face of high property prices and interest rates, the real estate sector is striving to attract customers during this season. To embrace the festive mood, Labdhi Lifestyle has introduced a special offer called 'Ek Sikka Ghar Pakka,' wherein the buyer only needs to pay Rs Oone and is entitled to own a Labdhi home (conditions apply).

Dr Sachin Chopda, Managing Director, Pushpam Group, said, 'The festive season is the best time for home buyers to invest in a home, as developers come up with attractive offers that home buyers find hard to resist. The entire MMR is upgrading with major ongoing infrastructure projects underway, promising to connect the island city with the mainland, reducing travel time and providing better ease of travel to commuters. Areas like Karjat and Alibaug are seeing renewed interest among home buyers. These areas are also attracting people looking to invest in holiday homes, as it provides excellent rental earnings and offers them an asset that will appreciate over time.'