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Sales Promotions Roundup

This week’s sales promotions were loaded with action in the consumer durables category (as usual) while IT and textiles & apparel promotions came a close second.

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, Sept 16

Loads of action in the consumer durables category. Videocon was wooing consumers with its ‘Scratch ‘n' Win' offer, under which Videocon products came with a scratch card that could win 100g, 50g, 5g, 3g, 2g or 1g gold coins. In addition, consumers who filled an entry form were eligible to win cash prizes ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

In West Bengal, in exchange of an old iron, consumers got a Rs-200 rebate on a new Philips Steam iron, while a tote bag came free with every purchase of a Philips mixer-grinder. The second offer is valid till Sep 30, 2000.

On purchasing a Johnson Mantra and Ballerina mixer, consumers in Bangalore got a free iron worth Rs 375. Bajaj - a free umbrella with every Bajaj iron - and Usha - a free wall clock with every Usha fan - were also busy wooing Bangaloreans. Kenstar too was giving away a 3-set Nirlep non-stick cookware set with every Kenstar mixer.

In Ahmedabad, on buying a Kenwood XD-V323 music system, consumers got seven VCDs free. In Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Lexus ran a limited-period offer on select models of Lexus water heaters - a free electric iron worth Rs 660.

A free gift and free microwave cooking lessons at home was Sharp's way of pushing sales of Sharp microwave ovens in Mumbai. In Delhi, Ghaziabad and Dehra Dun, Sharp's offer on the same product differed - a free video cassette and a recipe book on microwave cooking.

In exchange of an old cooking range, BPL was offering up to Rs 3,500 off on BPL cooking ranges. Bajaj was giving away an Ajanta quartz wall clock for Rs 25 (actual MRP Rs 99), with every Bajaj Regal fan.

In textiles and apparels, Bombay Dyeing had a bouquet of concurrent offers. A medium-sized bath towel came free on purchasing goods worth Rs 750. A free, single satin dyed sheet came with the purchase of goods worth Rs 1,050. While a printed, single bed sheet and pillow cover worth Rs 291 came with purchases worth Rs 1,450. All these offers were valid in Mumbai and Calcutta.

In Mumbai, on buying any Vivaldi shirt or trouser, Bombay Dyeing was offering a Vivaldi Featherlite shirt at just Rs 50. In Calcutta, with every purchase of a Vivaldi shirt or trouser, two Vivaldi polo T-shirts (worth Rs 450) were being offered at a discounted price of Rs 99.

In West Bengal, Charlie Jeanswear was giving a 25-per cent discount on the entire range of Charlie Activewear on purchase of Charlie Jeanswear. In Bangalore, consumers buying Oxemberg garments worth Rs 1,000-and-above were eligible to get one shirt worth Rs 399 free.

In Delhi, Peter England ran a 20-per cent discount offer on its shirts. In Calcutta, on buying two Peter England shirts and scratching the card that came with them, consumers could win gifts. With over 35,000 such gifts - including a bumper gift of Rs 1 lakh - shoppers had it rich.

There were a number of offers from IT-related product companies. An Epson Stylus Color 480 printer got consumers free Adobe Active Share software, a printer interface cable and an extra black ink cartridge. HP had a similar offer - a free colour cartridge on buying one additional colour cartridge with the HP DeskJet 840c. The offer on the HP LaserJet printer, on the other hand, was bigger - a free HP Pavilion home PC. Consumers who purchased the HP LaserJet and completed a product-related sentence were eligible to win this bounty.

On buying select models of Canon scanner, consumers got a Canon CC-10 calculator-cum-alarm clock worth Rs 500. A Lexmark 3200 printer had a stereo cassette player as a freebie. While the Ricoh photocopier buyer got a Ricoh camera or a Motorola mobile phone free.

Coming to automobiles, the Suzuki Samurai was selling cheaper by Rs 3,000 in Calcutta. The Enfield Bullet too ran a discount of Rs 3,000 in Calcutta, for a limited period. Bajaj slashed the price of its Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle by Rs 3,000 in Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore.

Dhara had a scheme running in Calcutta where, with every 5-litre jar of Dhara Refined Sunflower oil, a 200-g pouch pack of Amulya Dairy Whitener worth Rs 28 came free. This offer is valid up to Oct 15, 2000. Elsewhere, Dhara was also retailing its 15-litre jerry can at a lower price of Rs 520.

In select cities, a 5-litre bottle of Gemini sunflower oil got consumers a 16-litre Cello bucket worth Rs 75. On returning empty pouches of Manikchand Urmi and Parimal tea, consumers were eligible to win prizes such as a Kenstar super mixer, dinner sets and hand blenders.

A Park Avenue shaving cream tube worth Rs 32 came free with every 50g Park Avenue deodorant. And on filling a coupon that came with every Dabur Vatika hair oil bottle, shoppers could win a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

The other noteworthy promotions of the last week are as follows: New subscribers to Outlook magazine had to fill up a form which made them eligible to win prizes that included Thomson TVs, Vintron PCs and Videocon washing machines. Four Square cigarettes' ‘Power of Four' offer had four Ford Ikons, 16 Akai home theatre systems, 64 Philips CD players and 256 gold coins lined up for consumers. This offer is open till stocks last.

On registering with Mantra Online any time before Sep 20, 2000, surfers in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad were being offered 50 per cent extra Internet hours. And to round it up, HSBC had a host of gifts lined up for consumers who used the HSBC credit card and earned bonus points. Gifts included discounts at restaurants, stays at 5-Star hotels, annual fee waivers, etc.

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