60% of our spending is on the online front & 40% on offline medium: Rajendra Joshi

With Dussehra/ Durga Puja underway, the country is in the throes of festive fervour. After no Dussehra/ Durga Puja celebrations last year due to the pandemic, consumers and brands returning to the markets with a vengeance. With the vaccination drive gathering momentum and most of the COVID-19 restrictions lifted, there is a general air of optimism. Offices, market places, educational institutions, malls and cinema halls – all have now opened, giving people a sense of return to normalcy.

Like the rest of India, the East and North-East markets are in a resurgent mood. Durga Puja is the biggest festival in West Bengal and Tripura and is also celebrated extensively in Assam and other parts of the North-East. Markets are seeing the return of shoppers, with revenge shopping trend gaining precedence. Amid COVID-29 protocols, the shopping frenzy has begun and will reach a crescendo during Diwali. Experts believe that this is not just revenge shopping, but also a re-assertion and reclaiming of a life that one was living before the pandemic struck.

This festive season, Adgully turns the spotlight on the East and North-East markets and is speaking to a cross-section of brands, marketers and market experts to gauge the mood of the shoppers and brand sentiments. In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Rajendra Joshi, Executive Director (Sales & Marketing), Alliance Group, speaks about the demand surge seen across India, the company’s online and offline strategies for the festive season and more.

What kind of sentiments do you see in the East markets during this festive season? Are these sentiments close to the pre-COVID-19 levels?

We have been witnessing a gradual increase in consumer sentiment over the recent quarters compared to that of the pre-COVID levels. With people having started realising the importance of owning a home during the pandemic and considering the fact of real estate being a safe and secure investment option, the industry started witnessing increased demand, especially in the residential segment. Real estate sector has always witnessed increased interest from homebuyers during the festive seasons as people consider the festive period to be auspicious to plan any long term investments/ lifetime decisions. While homebuyers have started taking advantage of the prevailing situation to invest in their dream home such as all-time low home loan interest rates, coupled with attractive deals offered by developers, we expect the consumer sentiment to be increasingly positive this festive season.

How are you planning your strategy for online and offline sales? What kind of footfalls are you expecting during this festival?

With people now being dependent on digital mediums for news and any other information, there has been significant growth in digital consumption. Though technology has generated an impact in the realty sector, homebuyers still prefer physical site visits, where they touch, feel and savour their homes before electing them. Taking into account that consumers are now choosing to appraise the property online before purchasing it offline, we at Alliance Group, are aiming at maximising the visibility and capturing attention and have our major focus on online sales and promotions, where 60% of our spending is on the online front and 40% on offline medium.

While we have always seen an increase in sales Y-O-Y during the festive period, we expect our sales to significantly increase this festive season as well.

Any specific campaign strategies planned for the festival season? What kind of discounts and offers have you come up with for your customers this year?

We are coming up with schemes like No Pre-EMI, special offers, festival prices, etc., to attract more and more customers and make home buying easy for them.