The festive season in India (October-November) gets our brick and mortar retailers competing with each other for the increasingly diminishing customer footfalls. The change is palpable- the clicks are slowly demolishing the bricks.
Yesterday I walked into a garment retail outlet (Pantaloon http://pantaloons.com) , and saw the following banner:
That looked like a 50 % discount to me, just what I had started getting to expect after the recent madness of e-retailers (Amazon ,Flipkart, and Snapdeal) slugging it out with discounts.
It appeared that all I needed to avail the 50% discount was to shop for Rs 2000, and claim the gift vouchers for Rs 2000. Never the one to postpone gratification , I picked up stuff worth a shade over Rs 4000, planning to get and encash my gift coupons in one masterful stroke.
And then I was hit by the fine print. To cut a long story short, the discount offer effectively translates to the following:
1. Get 20% off on purchase of Rs 10000.
2. Become eligible for a maximum of 25% discount on your next four purchase of or exceeding Rs 2000.
To be availed in the next 6 Weeks.
This is a far cry from the banner which implied a 50% discount.
This is layered fine print at its best. Have a look:
I don't know how many get pulled in and fooled by such marketing campaigns which are designed to mislead.
It was no fun realising that I too had succumbed to the fine print blindness.
On my part, I collected the gift vouchers after making the Rs 2000 purchase, did not go ahead with the next Rs 2000 purchase as originally planned, and gifted away the gift vouchers to those standing in line behind me so that they could avail the 25% discount now.
And resolved to blog, tweet, and yelp.
Nicely done, Pay it forward. Reminds me the days of UP handloom sales, where they would have 45% off, but the prices would have been jacked up just prior.
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