Retail Sprees: A predicted Catharsis Pattern Post Lockdown

The pandemic of COVID-19 has altered the definitions of recreational activities that once formed a crucial part of our daily lifestyle. All the shopping centre and malls being closed, have put the retail industry into a difficult spot. While the loss incurred is way too much; the silver lining of the situation is that retail sprees are likely to become a pattern post COVID 19.

Dhiraj Jain, Director, Mahagun Group

It is a natural tendency of human mind that it seeks change, the lockdown period confining everybody to their homes has made them adaptive to a relaxed lifestyle within the limitations of their homes for a very long period. Once it will be nearing its end, the people would be more than excited to make outgoing plans, but of course with more caution. In order to accommodate and understand this consumer sentiment, retailers will be switching to different strategies to push their sales. Some of them will include:

1) A welcome back offer

The brands will be in a tough spot to maintain their profit margins and fulfill the needs of its customers. This may lead to combo offers, or seizing the offers before an expiry period. These will be perking up the shopping spirit and increase chances of sale.

2) Clearance offers to allow coming in of new stock

Every store will be in a hurry to clear their old stock and make space for the new commodities. Clearance sales which are usually announced around festivities but will see an early arrival to stay ahead of it s competitive brands.

3) Collaboration with other brands

While many brands will be ready to stand alone and recover from this loss, there might be some which would be joining hands with others to give its customers an enhanced and additional value experience. The feeling of getting more in reasonable price bracket will be another tactic to perk the consumers sentiment.

4) Building a safe shopping space for customers

Malls and stores will have to adapt to the changed mentality of the people post COVID 19 and make sure the customers feel safe in their retail space. This will include allowing limited crowd at a time, to follow the norms of social distancing, keeping the environment cleaned and sanitized.

Shopping enthusiasts will be looking at retail sprees as a catharsis pattern post their home confinement, as they are driven by the zeal to stay updated with the new fashion trends. This excitement was put on rest for an elongated time duration. Therefore, retail sprees are likely to happen due to the cost effectiveness and bulk availability of products.

Apart from these enthusiasts, other people who were in a habit of coming to malls for spending their free time will be seen showing their interest back on gradually. While they will not venture into spreeing pattern, but they would be engaging in limited shopping for the sake of embracing the normalcy. On top of all this, the offers stated above will be trying their best to direct customers to offline retail spaces to beat the competition from E-commerce portals.

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