FESTIVAL BUYING

MARKETING MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT - I

Submitted by, Bavya Sivashree 215111085

Index

Introduction Festival Buying Various festivals in India Festival and Marketing Ways to promote Festival Buying Festivals of India Pongal Diwali Onam Christmas Ramzan Purchase during Festive Season Jewellery Gadgets and Accessories Household Appliances Clothing and Apparels Vehicles Food and Entertainment Conclusion Bibliography 10 13 14 15 16 18 18 19 7 7 8 9 10 3 3 3 4

Introduction Festival Buying

Festivals form a major part and parcel of our lives. Especially in India, where every festival is celebrated with great pomp and show. Festivals also mean a particular time during which customers heavily shop. Festival It is the buy-buy time of every year, where the Indian consumers are all out to splurge on gadgets, gifts and good times. And it is that time of the year where shops look extra bright, stocked to the hilt with wares to attract the pocketheavy customers. The categories that perhaps sees most sales are consumer durables, clothing and apparels, vehicles and gadgets as the festival season is considered to an auspicious occasion to adorn one's home with new products. And the buying process becomes all the more lucrative with the mindboggling number of freebies, schemes, prizes. The consumers are indeed spoilt for choices.

Various festivals celebrated in India

Akshaya Trithi New Year Christmas Holi Diwali Onam Pongal

Festival and Marketing

The festival season in India has set, both online as well as local stores ready to cash on the holiday shopping rush. The sales, promotions, and discount banners can be seen across all departments be it electronics, home appliances, or gifts. This is the shopping season when the budget loosens up. Shopping is a fun activity anyway but during festival season it gets that extra dash of excitement. Shopping forms a major part of every single festival. Therefore, for advertisers, festivals are the right time to advertise their brands amongst customers so that they get familiarized with the features and benefits of the products and are encouraged to adopt or buy them. Heavy advertising of brands is quite an observed trend amongst the various advertisers. Television advertising, radio advertising or outdoor advertising practices all these are heavily practiced amongst advertisers during any particular festive season. The festival season has gained so much importance in the planning of sale of goods by companies. This period is considered very auspicious by most Indian consumers who do their major household buying during this festival period. Therefore, it is the best time to come up with offers and schemes. All the players focus on the same so the competition to offer the best products at best prices increase and advertising plays a major role in it. Also, both company and individuals give gifts to friends, relatives and employees, which drive growth for white goods companies. This is the reason why such companies undertake additional expenditure in an effort to catch the consumer's attention.

Traditionally, for most Indian consumers, the festival season that typically starts in August-September, is the time to go on a shopping spree. This is the time of discounts, and sales promotions. All the cities are dotted with hoardings that entice consumers with offers. There are Buy One, Get Three offers, Scratch and Win offers, Exchange offers and more.

Ways to promote Festival Buying

For a festival oriented advertisement campaign, the final brand message has to be strong and appealing enough to carry away the attention of audiences and prospective customers. Therefore, the advertising message and the medium of advertising network should also be equally influential so that customers get the brand message loud and clear and of course with the targeted impact. During a particular festival, the advertising message of the brand should also flaunt in such a manner that customers are delighted to go through it as much as they are rejoiced to celebrate the festival. Talking about the festival, its essence and representing the brand in a full-fledged festive spirit, all these tactics of brand print advertising can be implemented by an advertiser during a particular festive aura. The following are the various ways and mediums by which festival buying can be mooted.[1] 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) Mobile marketing campaigns Television Commercials and Radio Advertisement Offers inducing Sales Promotion Promotional Fliers and Special Event Signage Newsletters and Catalogues Print Advertisement, Coupons Web site and Email Marketing Blogging and Social Networking Corporate Charity : Soft Marketing and Just Good Business

Mobile Marketing campaigns

Highly personalized, targeted Bulk SMS campaigns provide a highly effective medium that has proven to be successful at increasing campaign revenue and improving marketing ROI during the time of festival.

Television Commercials and Radio Advertisement

Television and radio reach wide markets that reach targeted geographic regions. Cable television stations offer advertisement that is priced at various levels based on time slots and frequency. Sponsoring a radio program that is targeted to the demographics of the clients is also a great marketing opportunity. Example : Cadbury Festivals come and go; memories of the flamboyant celebrations remain forever. If a memorable brand message is presented amongst customers during a particular festival, customers tend to remember it in the near future. Cadbury Advertisements are most often
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focussed on festival themes. So, customers have this near to personal feeling that when its any festival, Cadbury forms a major part of the celebration. And in each and every festival, the same mentality prevails amongst customers. It is one reason why Cadbury Chocolates sell like hot-buns in Indian market especially during festivals.

Offers inducing Sales promotion

Festival is the time of the year again when customers takes a look at the various special offers that companies are offering each festive season. It is recommended that during festive period, organizations should take full advantage by developing an effective and efficient sales promotion campaign that can arouse the consumers awareness, thereby leading to greater purchase of their products. Offer by Whirlpool Consumer durable major Whirlpool launched the 'Chance Loge ya Whirlpool' promotional campaign in the year 2005. The buyer gets not one but two assured gifts that range from a Cygnus diamond pendant to an Addidas drum bag, together with a two-daysthree-nights holiday package for a couple to a choice of 75 locations across India. Whirlpool also joined hands with publications across regions to organise daylong consumer events in 15 towns across India. [2]

Promotional Fliers and Special Event Signage

Fliers are used as an invitation to a special promotional event or product launch. Colour copies of the fliers would be more great and attractive. The more affordable black and white fliers, when well designed, can be just as effective. The target distribution should be towards the community and street distribution. Signage ranges from large billboard advertisements to window and in-store sign boards. Free standing sign boards can also be developed to promote special events or sales.

Newsletters and Catalogues

Newsletters and catalogues are great marketing tools if there is a mailing list for the clients and customers. A catalogue provides an opportunity to showcase the various products the company is selling.

Print Advertisement, Coupons

Print media advertisement options for products and services can be quite effective during the festive season. Options include display advertisements of varying sizes as well as classified advertisement, depending on the type of business. Coupon and Discount booklets from local businesses are popular during the holiday seasons.

The above diagram stresses the importance of coupons and discounts during festival time. [3]

Web site and E-mail Marketing

Websites offer unique marketing opportunities. E-mails are a direct way to reach existing customers and clients. During the holiday or at the start of a new season, a free einvite card can be designed to promote an in-store event. A sales letter is sent to promote a clearance sale. The sales letter can be sent using prior customer lists by email.

Blogging and Social Networking

Social networking and blogging are new media soft marketing mediums. The big social networking mediums for businesses are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A business account on each has to be developed. They can be used like in-person networking. A notice can be posted if the company is running a contest or if there is an in-store event. Blogging can be integrated into a company's website and kept updated by an employee or a professional copywriter.

Corporate Charity: Soft Marketing and Just Good Business

Apart from the above mentioned marketing tools, the festival season also provides the best opportunity to exercise a firm's charitable arm. Community charity is not only a soft marketing tools but, more importantly, offers an opportunity to give back to the local community. A local charity can be selected to donate cash or give employees an opportunity to donate food items and volunteer time for the less fortunate.

Festivals of India
Few of the major festivals which are celebrated in India in a great manner are as follows.

Pongal
Pongal is a major celebration in India and people celebrate it for about four days during the month of January. The first day is called Bhogi. Many people burn and get rid of old household items and purchase new household items on this day. This marks the start of a new cycle. The second day is Perum, also known as Surya Pongal, and is the most important day of Pongal. Many people worship the sun god, Lord Surya by offering prayers on this day. Many people also wear new clothes and women decorate houses. Mattu Pongal is the third day and includes worshipping cattle because it is believed that cattle help give a good harvest. The fourth day is called Kanum Pongal, which is when many people go on picnic and spend time with families and friends. Pongal has many regional names. The most popular variations are:

Makar Sankranti (Northern & Western India) Lohri (Punjab) Bihu (Assam)

Sugarcane Sale on rise in Ramanathapuram: Sivaganga district in TamilNadu is known for its momentum in sugarcane harvest. The prices of black sugarcane always goes up in the local market in view of Pongal festival. Though the actual purchase of black sugarcane for Pongal will commence just a day before the festival, people started buying the sugarcane for other purposes following the arrival of canes to the market. Each cane was priced between Rs.12 to 15 depending upon the size of it. It was sold at Rs.8 to 12 last year(2009). It is stated that there is a mismatch between demand and supply of sugarcaneevery year. The black sugar cane cultivable area has come down a bit in Sivaganga district, from where the sugarcane for Pongal is supplied to Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts. The whole sale price had gone up marginally, the consumers had to be pay more as it was reaching them after passing whole sale traders and a few intermediaries. Market sources said orders had been given for around 5 lakh black sugar canes for the Pongal sale in different parts of the district.[4]

Diwali
Diwali is a religious festival which is celebrated during the month of OctoberNovemeber. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. In North India, Diwali is the celebration of the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana, or good over evil. Whereas, in the south, Diwali celebrations is observed as Narakachaturdasi, the day Lord Krishna killed the

demon Narakasur, again symbolising victory of good over evil. It is believed that his death is celebrated by bursting crackers. The celebrations in Diwali are marked by decorations , pooja , gifts , wishes , sweets and food and not to forget the fireworks. Fireworks are the integral part of the celebrations of diwali. . As the festival is also known as the Festival of Lights, fireworks and firecrackers enhance the grandeur of the celebrations. Ban against firecrackers threaten the industry Sivakasi takes care of 70 percent of the country's cracker needs, exporting goods all over - from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. For the firecracker manufacturers at Sivakasi, Diwali accounts for about 70 per cent of our annual sales. And every year, firecracker sales show a 15 per cent increase during Diwali. But, during the recent years, the sales is becoming very stagnant. The 450-odd manufacturers who are mostly in the small-scale sector in Sivakasi are currently facing a pronged attack. In an attempt to curb noise pollution, many states in India have banned certain crackers. In addition, with the Delhi High Court currently hearing a PIL to ban firecrackers, the Delhi government has decided to reduce the number of licenses it grants to dealers. In addition, it has also reduced the stock these dealers can carry. Firecrackers are worried that other state governments might follow suit. Though there haven't been any layoffs among the 1.5 lakh employees at Sivakasi's cracker manufacturing units, as yet, tomorrow doesn't look too bright [5]

Onam
Onam is the biggest and the most important festival of the state of Kerala. It is a harvest festival and is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm all over the state by people of all communities celebrate cutting across religious barriers during the month of August September. Malayalis have been on a spending spree during Onam season. The festival has become an occasion for traders to make quick profits, cashing in on the consumerist behaviour of the Kerala society. Heavy spending during Onam festival Keralites are spread out all across India as well as abroad and they celebrate the festival wherever they are. The difference is in the level of celebrations. The turnover in the year 2005 in the Onam market has been estimated at Rs.400 crores. The money is spent on buying automobiles, clothes, ornaments and attractive consumer goods, manufactured and marketed by manufacturers having planned and effective marketing arrangements. Now a days,even credit for festival expenditure can be taken as loan from financial institutions. Besides, employers grant Onam bonus, festival gift advance, etc. Even industrial units and plantation estates that are facing a lock-out give allowances to the workers. Secondly, people plan their purchases for Onam based on gifts and discounts announced by traders and manufacturers. Many of these goods are not essential for daily needs and the buyer does not normally give a thought to how he/she will clear the credit.

The above pie-chart shows the various advertising forms during the Onam festival [6]

Christmas
Christians across the country marks the birth of Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas Day which falls on 25th December of every year. During the time of Christmas, most of the houses, churches will be well decorated with lights. Decorated Christmas trees and cribs are most common in many households during Christmas. Hectic shopping activity takes place as everyone buys new clothes for the festival. Christmas celebrations cannot end without cutting a traditional Christmas cake which is usually a plum cake rich in taste consisting of nuts, raisins, almonds etc. Wine is also taken along with the cake by many people. Banglore wine sales up by 30% during Christmas A long weekend and a crate of wine beside thee! Well, that's the trend in the tech city if sales volume data from wine makers and taverns are tenable in the festive season. The months of November-January have traditionally accounted for up to 50% of wine sales in the year 2010. Sales are generally up during Christmas and New Year, as the beverage is picked up for own consumption and for gifting. According to industry players, wine sales were up in the year 2010 by 30% compared to the year 2009 when wine sales were dampened by the economic slowdown. Wine is associated with healthy and responsible drinking. So people are said to be experimenting with

newer forms of wines. Also it's becoming increasingly affordable and a plenty of local variety available in the market.[7]

Ramzan
Muslims in India observe all the Islamic festivals that are celebrated in other parts of the world. The important Muslim festivals that are celebrated in India, include Ramzan (Ramadan). The celebrations of the auspicious occasions are marked by special prayers offered in mosques, fasting, feasting and exchange of wishes. Butchers selling mutton at high prices during Ramzan In Peshawar, August 2011, the officials of the district administration had had fixed the price of beef at Rs190 per kilogram at the start of Ramzan, but the butchers are selling it for Rs240-250 per kg while mutton is available at Rs400-500 per kg instead of the official rate of Rs250 per kg. The meat of sheep is comparatively cheaper than that of goat, but butchers are selling both at the same high prices. Eventhough the consumers could not find any relief from the sky-rocketing prices of daily-use commodities in the holy month of Ramazan despite repeated raids by officials of district administration in different bazaars to check hoarding and profiteering, they continued their purchase during festive time.[8]

Purchase during festive season

The various purchases done by consumers during festive season are as follows Jewellery Gadgets and Accessories Household Appliances Clothing and Apparel Vehicles Food and Entertainment

Jewellery
Indians have traditionally bought gold to mark important occasions. Every household in India, however meagre their annual income is, goes to great lengths to stash up on some gold, silver or precious metal during festival time. Even slack business has always been made up by festival buying. The tradition of buying jewellery is strong as it is a part of Indian culture. And clients always find more to choose from during the festival season. The sales during Akshaya Tritiya/ Varamahalakshmi/Ganesha Chaturthi is usually 20-25 per cent higher than sales during the rest of the year. India has always been a different market when compared to the global scenario. India is the largest consumer of gold and whether there is recession or not, people are definitely going to buy some quantity of gold. Indians are queuing up to book gold and silver for purchase during a Hindu festival considered auspicious to buy precious metals. The festival-10

Akshaya Trithiya, which is celebrated on Friday, typically sees huge demand for gold and silver as many Hindus believe buying the metals on the day will multiply their wealth. India is the largest consumer of gold and imports 700-800 metric tons of the yellow metal a year. It also imports around 3,000 tons of silver.

The above graph shows the level of consumption of gold in India during various festivals [9] Indias gold imports were up 7.79 per cent in seven months in 2009 on improved festival demand and occasional buying from retail consumers. High prices, individual investors and funds retaining their faith in gold as an alternate investment option also helped in improving the import figures. According to an industry estimates, gold imports in July were at 16 tonnes, 44 per cent lower than the same month of the previous year but, 16 per cent higher than the previous month. In July 2009, gold imports were recorded at 28.4 tonnes as global economies were recovering from slowdown and investors preferred to invest in the yellow metal amid forecast of price rise. Gold prices were hovering around Rs 15,000 per 10 gm in Mumbai around that time. The states of Kerala, Assam and some other north-eastern regions will celebrate Vishu (Bihu) in a big way on April 14th, and that is an auspicious occasion for people to start new ventures and buy gold. Christians, a major consumer of gold in Kerala, will celebrate
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Easter on April 12, and jewellers hope that Kerala Christians will add gold also in the shopping list for Easter. And then comes Akshaya Thritiya, India's second biggest goldbuying festival along with Dhanteras, which falls on April 27th. Hindu citizens, especially in the south, are expected to buy gold regardless of price, as they believe it will ensure lasting prosperity.

The above bar graph indicates that the gold purchase in Indian market is more in the second half of an year.[10] With a cluster of Indian festivals in September, culminating in Diwali in October and the wedding season kicking into gear from late September to December,the Indian Customers seem to buy more gold at the second half of the year as indicated in the graph above.

India's silver price also continues to make record highs alongside new dollar highs. According to market observers the price of the white metal will continue moving higher, since worldwide demand remains strong. The festival called Navratri which is a nine-day celebration is the time where there is an increase in silver purchase. Navratri is mainly celebrated in rural areas of the country, where farmers sow their plants and thank the Hindu Mother Goddess Shakti for the fertility of mother earth. This festivity will lead to an increase in the demand for gold and silver jewellery. Tanishqs Diamond Queen Offer The retail identity of Tanishq has evolved over the years to offer large format and concept stores that reflect the brands philosophy of being a Revitaliser of Tradition ,Tanishq has many special offers in festive season. In the year 2009, it introduced the Diamond Queen offer where shoppers had a chance to win jewellery over four crores, a necklace worth Rs 25 lakh and be crowned as the Diamond Queen. The sale of jewellery picked up considerably during Diwali. This period is followed by the wedding season where once again the sales are
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very good. The reason for this is that it is considered auspicious to buy gold during festive season, and as it is immediately followed by the wedding season people tend to keep buying. Tanishq also has a Tanishq Punjabi Wedding Collection. Quite a few companies that make orders on the occasion of Diwali for the purpose of corporate gifting, personal utility[11]

GADGETS AND ACCESSORIES

Gadgets, also called by name gizmos are small technological objects such as a device or an appliance that has a particular function. Few Gadgets are :

Smart/Mobile Phone Music players Digital Cameras Laptop and Tablet computers Smart watches

It is usually the younger generation who are more fascinated in the purchase and proud ownership of high technology, useful and visually pleasing gizmos. Gadgets can range from a small pendrive, USBs to digital cameras, laptops and their accessories like speakers, headphone, Bluetooth etc.

The above graph shows what the gadget consumer think of buying during holiday season [12]

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Nokias special offer for Onam In 2010, Nokia India offered special offers on purchase of its handsets during this festival. Nokia India announced cash-back offer upto 1 lac on purchase of Nokia handsets during this festival. The offer was availed across all Nokia Priority outlets and other Nokia sales stores. It was very smart step by Nokia for promotion and high sales of its Nokia handsets. All the customers purchasing Nokia handsets will receive a scratch-card which will have cash-back offer or 10% discount on purchase of mobile accessories . The cash back offer ranges from Rs 51 to Rs 100,000. During this whole festival Nokia would give away prizes worth Rs. 93 Lakh. That sounded really good. Additionally, users who subscribed to a new Airtel connection along with the purchase of select Nokia handsets also received a package of free talktime worth Rs 300 over a period of three months.

HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES
Many things that were considered as luxuries till about ten years ago have become necessities for most people today. And in case of household goods consumption it has happened also with many people opting to purchase television, refrigerators, air- conditioners and other white goods. The Company or Brand Name, guarantee / warrantee, Price, and After Sales Service are the important factors in purchase of durables. While, sources of important information authorized dealers shop, technical expert advice, role of TV as media and influence of friends, relatives and neighbours found important in purchase of durables by respondents. And festival season is considered as the best time to buy these household products because of the varied range of offers being given by various outlets.
Various brands tend to attract customers by promising various offers like zero percent interest , exchange offer , free gifts or other products. Studies found that according to the responses, decision makers role in buying appliances is played by male (76.46%) and by female (80.51%). Since the percentage of female is more, the advertisements and marketing should be more centered to pull the female crowd.

The above pie chart shows the percentage of various household appliances purchased during festival time.[13]
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LGs Cash Bhi Aish Bhi Scheme LG announced its Cash Bhi Aish Bhi Scheme,in the year 2009 which integrated offers on every purchase of any LG GSM handset. A customer buying any LG GSM was entitled for two lucky scratch cards one scratch card gives you an assured cash back upto Rs 1000. The second scratch card could be a bumper prize if the luck is shining by your side. The bumper prizes included a Honda City, 82cm LG LCDs, 53cm LG Slim TVs and DVD players. It also put an effort towards giving the customers technologically high end products and a fantastic festive offer 'Mangal Hi Mangal' In case the card did not carry any bumper prize, LG Mobile donated Re. 1 to CRY (Child Rights and You) on behalf of the customer for ensuring underprivileged children their right to childhood.

Samsung's 'Pehla Kamaal Doosra Dhamaal' Offer

Samsung's 'Pehla Kamaal Doosra Dhamaal' consumer promotion was a scratch based promotion offer introduced in the year 2005. As part of this promotion, any customer buying a Samsung home appliance product got two chances to win exciting gifts. The first scratch or the 'Pehla Kamaal' reveals to the customer the sure shot or the assured gift he/she has won. The second scratch or the 'Doosra Dhamaal' reveals the bumper gift that a lucky customer can win. Purchases above Rs 50,000 will entitle the Samsung customers to two scratch cards, so that they win two assured gifts and get two chances to win the bumper prize. Gifts worth Rs 20 crore are being given away during the promotion. As part of the Mega Festival Consumer Bonanza , consumers buying Samsung LED TV in 40 and above screen sizes got a 22 Samsung LCD TV free of cost. For consumers purchasing a popular size 32 LCD TV, the Company haD a high quality DVD player DVD as an assured gift and for consumers buying LCD in screen sizes 22 & 26 , Samsung offerED an attractive 50 movies DVD pack for free. As part of the offer, consumers who purchased Samsung Convection Microwave Ovens wgot a Dinner set worth Rs 2000 free.[14]

CLOTHING AND APPARELS

Festive time is the season when most of the Indian people buy new clothes lured by the discounts and offers and various promises given the apparel sector companies. The womens wear buying is more compared to that of the childrens wear and mens wear as more women population are fascinated towards shopping of costly dresses during festive season.Every Indian woman eagerly waits for the Indian festival season as it's the ideal time to splurge in shopping fabulous Indian Designer Clothes. Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali are the main highlights of the Indian festive season and it is during this time that women dress up to look their beautiful best. A vast variety of latest Designer Clothes throng the markets and this offers a large selection to choose from while shopping for festivals. The Aadi sale which comes in the month of July offers enormous discounts to customers to pull crowd.

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The above is an ad showing the sales offer given by Pantaloons. Apparel sales in the country have hiked about 20% during festival time. Most of the urban consumers prefer private labels which impact the apparel sales to a great level. Consumers are down trading to more comfortable price points within national brands. As a result, volumes of private brands have grown even though prices have increased for that segment too. The real impact on apparel sales will be known in the festive season as cotton price increase will start reflecting then. Retailers are wary about business growth in the festive months. Pantaloon Retail Indias Q2 net up by 5.5% Country's largest retailer Pantaloon Retail India (PRIL) recorded 5.49 percent growth in net profit at Rs 44.79 crore in the second quarter ended December owing to rise in consumer demand during year end festival season in the first half of the year 2011. Net sales increased by 31.16% to Rs2,758.55 crore. Even though sales have grown because of the festival season, the results are below expectation because of margin pressure as Shoppers Stop (SSL) and Trent Retail have shown better results compared with Pantaloon Retail. The company's same-store value retailing sales grew 11.5percent, lifestyle retailing rose 20.9percent and home retailing was up 18.3percent. Kishore Biyani, the MD has said that they have grown more than 30% on year-on-year bases and their focus is to sustain the growth.[15]

VEHICLES
The fear of Friday the 13th is responsible for the loss of millions of dollars in the US. A reported 9% of Americans are supposedly people who are afraid of Fridays and hate venturing out of their homes during Fridays that fall on the 13th. Studies show that roughly $900 million in business revenue is lost on that one day, according to the Entrepreneur magazine. So, in a year, where there are three Fridays that fall on the 13th of a month, the automobile industry in US would lose nearly $2,700 million (Rs 13,500) cr in business revenue, roughly half of Indian software giant Infosys' annual revenues.

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India, on the contrary, has a different tale to narrate. Here, certain sectors witness sudden spikes in sales due to superstitions. For instance, compared to the 3,000-3,500 cars that are sold everyday in the country, around 17,000 cars (1.7% of the country's total car sales) are sold during Dhanteras, which is an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar, marked to bring eternal good fortune. Buyers wait for this particular day, which takes place two days before Diwali, to buy cars, jewellery and other high-value items. It is believed that buying precious things during this particular day will get buyers good luck.

The above graph indicates that Festival Offer is more preferred in buying Hero Honda vehicle in a sample survey conducted. [16]

Most of the families, prefer buying 2-wheelers over four-wheelers because it is more cost efficient and easy to maintain. Festival days are considered as the auspicious days to buy 2-wheelers in India. Two-wheeler sales in the country also have sky rocketed in the recent years, and the annual sales of motorcycles in India expected to soar even more. The low penetration of two-wheelers in the country 31 two-wheelers per 1000 citizens (2004) leaves immense scope for the growth of the market. Festive demand raises Hyundai sales to its highest ever In October 2009, Hyundai Motor India, the countrys second-largest passenger car manufacturer, registered its highest-ever monthly sales of 53,804 units in September. The 16.4% year-on-year growth came on the back of growing festive season demand and higher overseas sales. It was the first time that the company has crossed 50,000 units a month since it started operations in India 11 years ago. While demand showed a positive trend even in August, it was only in September after the company started third-shift operations at its second plant in Chennai, that they were able to meet demand and hence registered higher numbers. Hyundai Motor India ended the calendar year with double-digit growth, against the low single-digit estimated earlier[17]

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FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT

Food, Clothing and Shelter are the basic amenities of man, among which the food is given more importance in the present scenario. The purchase pattern of buying food and other eatables have a steady hike during the festival time. There are many restaurants, pubs and eateries all offered special meals and menus during Festival Week giving both visitors and locals a great way to tuck into some delicious local food during festival week. With a majority of the population being non-vegetarians, the consumption and price of chicken, mutton, fish ,beef tend to increase during the festival time like Ramzan. During festivals like Pongal, Diwali where sweets are made at home, the price of sugar, cooking oil also go up.

Huge demand for holige sweet in shops during Ugadi Obbattu, or holige, is one of the most important ingredients for a complete Ugadi celebration, but most of the modern homemakers seem to be too embroiled in their work to dish out the sweet for the festival. And, sweet stalls are making the most of it. In Asha Sweets House at Banglore, there was a huge demand for coconut holige compared to that made of dal. There had been nearly 25% increase in demand in 2010 compared to the previous year. People bought holiges even three days before the festival and Asha Sweets were selling about 2,000 holiges of each variety every day. Coconut holiges which were usually sold at Rs12 apiece were sold for rs.15 in the festive season. [18]

Sports and Movies play the major role in entertainment sector. In India, most of the movies are released during the festival time. Most of the revenue generated is during the first few weeks of the movie release and during weekends. Theatre owners hike prices especially during festive season. But the Indian consumers who are crazy about films, do not mind spending heavy amount on theatre tickets. Being a form of fun and entertainment with family and friends, watching movies is also one of the many activities done by consumers during festive season.

Conclusion
Taking the Indian scenario into context, Festivals have always played an important role in increasing the sales, revenue and profit of many companies. The celebration of festivals may vary from one aspect to another within different states in the country, but the buying during festival time has always been at a higher rate irrespective of the region. Each festival has been auspicious to consumers in one way or the other in purchase of new commodities. But the festival time has always been only a seasonal demand which impacts the companies during the rest of the year with sales and profit much lesser than the festive time.

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