Indoreans get sale savvy

To avoid the mad weekend rush in malls during sale season, clever Indoreans are now sneaking out early from work and using their lunch hours during weekdays to shop.
While the summer in Indore may not have many fans, there’s one season that brings out the best in everyone – the sale season. No wonder then that Indoreans are letting go of their work commitments to make it to the stores in time to get a good deal.Apart from the universally crowded weekends, we found many shoppers at stores on weekdays too, sneaking out of work or using their field jobs to make the most of the sale season. We spoke to some weekday shoppers who believed getting a 40% off was important enough to make you lie to your boss!
Weekend shopping is like suicide: Most of these weekday shoppers have learnt from previous weekend experiences of being stuck in the trial room line for hours and having to fight to death to buy the last size of that 40%-off dress. Sonala Gupta, a copywriter with an advertising firm, says, “Last Sunday, I decided to go shopping for Rakhi with my cousins only to find the shops jam-packed, with a long queue outside trial rooms. I didn’t have the patience to shop in this crazy scene. So the next day, I faked a doctor’s appointment at work and headed to a mall. There was hardly any crowd in the shops and I could shop at my leisure.” Gulafshan Lightwala, a medical intern, tell us, “I went to a mall with my mother on Saturday to buy a gift for a family function. With a 50% discount on many brands, it looked like half of the city’s population was there! It was so exhausting to shop. I will never think of shopping during weekends when the sale season is on in full swing.”
Best use of my lunch hour: For many, sale is all about necessity shopping and picking up items that one has already tried and selected. That’s why, for them, a quick lunch hour trip to the store does the trick. Kunika Tare, a software professional, says, “In my office, afternoons are a little less busy and that’s when my colleague and I go shopping. One day I got a pair of jeans at a flat 70% off and the other day, both of us got lovely dresses at 50% off. In fact, I’ve noticed that some brands even have special weekday offers!”
Don't mind shopping alone during sale season: While weekends are perfect for window shopping with friends, when it comes to sale, shoppers mean business. Deepika Jain Chadda, a BPO employee, tells us, “Shopping with your girlfriends is fun, but when your schedules don’t match, shopping alone is cool too. As it is, my husband doesn’t go shopping with me as he gets ‘bored’. So, I am used to it. Now, if I need to pick something for myself, I sneak out of work a little early and go shopping alone.”
Small perks of having a field job: Making the most of their client visits and outdoor assignments, those having a field job are the first ones to buy good products on sale. Vibha, a marketing executive, laughs, “The best part about my job is that I do not have to be at my workstation from morning till evening. So apart from catching up with friends and taking an afternoon nap, these days I also go shopping for myself and my family, as it is the sale season. Apart from Rakshabandhan, my sister’s wedding is in September, so I am buying outfits and accessories right now when I can get a good deal.” She adds, “But I make sure that none of my colleagues get to know about it. Once, I had to drop my boss to his place, and when he saw the packets in my car, he was like, ‘were you shopping the entire afternoon?’ I realized what a mistake I had made!”
Hitesh, an insurance professional, tells us, “I am getting married in October and weekend shopping is a bad idea because then, I’ll also have to take my fiancee out for a movie and dinner. And she has told me that she isn’t interested in shopping for ‘boring’ shirts with me. Thankfully, I have a field job. Otherwise, with the kind of time I am putting into shopping these days, I would have been kicked out of my desk job!”