Will these festive season offers by Mumbai malls help woo back customers?

With the festive season around the corner, malls are wooing customers through lucky draws, mega giveaways and contests. But most of the schemes are no different from those of the previous years’.

Luxury cars, 43-inch smart TV sets, mobile phones, tablets, soundbars and colour printers are all there. But will it work during COVID days?

“The festive season is always about hope and renewal. We do foresee an improvement in consumer sentiment and increase in overall sales growth,” Yogeshwar Sharma, Executive Director and CEO at Select CITYWALK Mall, said.

Dussehra falls in the month of October, followed by Diwali in November and Christmas in December.

Festive Offers

Oberoi Mall, located at Goregaon in Mumbai, has already started a ‘Shop and Win’ contest from September 15. It will last till October 11.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Anuj Arora, General Manager, Oberoi Mall, said that under this contest, customers who shop for Rs 5,000 or more a day get to participate in a Lucky Draw, where two contestants will win gift vouchers worth Rs 25,000 each.

Under 'Shop and Win' customers who shop for Rs 5,000 and above on the same day (11 am till 7 pm) will be eligible for participation in a Lucky Draw. The participant will be issued one raffle coupon per Rs 5,000 shopping amount for the Lucky Draw. The desk shall issue raffles at Oberoi Mall from 11 am to 7 pm during the offer period.

A single shopper will not be issued more than 10 raffles at any point of time.

Two lucky customers will win the Mega Prize of the Lucky Draw, i.e, exciting gift vouchers of various brands at Oberoi Mall worth Rs. 25,000 each.

Additionally, all participants will earn double reward points on Club Uno, Oberoi Mall’s rewards program, where members earn 1 percent of their transaction value as reward points which can be redeemed for vouchers across brands at Oberoi Mall.

This will be followed by the annual ‘Light-Up Luck’ event where the mega-giveaway is a luxury car to a lucky winner. The ‘Light-Up Luck’ event is planned for almost a month from October 14-November 15.

The company refrained from sharing details on which car will be the gift and the rules for 'Light-Up Luck' event.

Viviana Mall in Mumbai-Thane, too, has joined the bandwagon. The mall will come up with ‘Shop N Win’ offers, wherein it would give away various gifts.

The mall will be organising a lucky draw daily in the festive season for shoppers where customers stand a chance to win either a mobile phone, a tablet, soundbars, or even colour printers, and on a weekly basis, one lucky winner will get a 43-inch smart TV.

Since the government has not permitted to host events, two Infiniti malls located in Mumbai will have Thematic Décor to attract the customers and offer various types of discounts, incentive schemes, and assured gifts on shopping of a particular amount.

Demand Revival

Most mall operators are hoping that at least 80 percent footfalls will be back in the festive season, and, in turn, retailers will also be able to witness a revival in demand and boost sales.

Mukesh Kumar, CEO, Infiniti Mall, told Moneycontrol that the mall is carrying out various marketing initiatives to boost footfalls and spur sales during the festival period.

Kumar is expecting a major boost in terms of footfalls and sales during Dussehra and Diwali.

While malls have been allowed to open, dine-in within malls’ restaurants and multiplexes are not yet permitted. Kumar is hoping that that dine-in restaurants, cinemas and Family Entertainment Centers (FECs) will get permission to re-open before the festive season.

He is expecting a better response by early October in sales as well as in terms of serious shoppers.

Rima Kirtikar, Chief Marketing Officer, Viviana Mall, also believes that the upcoming festive season would further help restore a substantial chunk of pre-COVID-19 demand.

As part of Unlock 3.0, malls in Maharashtra reopened on August 5 after a gap of more than four months of being totally shut due to the lockdown.