Why Readymade Diwali Gift Packs Are a Bad Idea
Diwali is just round the corner. In the busy times of today, very few of us have the spare time to gift our loved ones things prepared by our own hands. What’s the next best way out? Buy some readymade gifts, get them gift-wrapped and be done with the gifting process. They may provide a shortcut to escape the hassles of hand-made gifts but they are not a reasonable choice. Let’s explore why. To get to the real thing, we first need to know a tiny bit of economics. Let’s brush up some concepts. Going by the total sales in the Diwali season (be it any parameter like volume, price, etc.), we can safely conclude that business houses sell 60% of their wares during the festive season itself. Making 60% of your yearly output available in the market needs special strategies and measures. The strategy is to pump finished products at a rapid rate during Diwali season. As a result, quality sometimes takes a beating and the victim is the consumer. This is done sometimes accidentally and sometimes deliberately. Business houses hire extra workers which are not trained to the level of their regular staff to meet the ever growing demand. Those extra people obviously can’t produce the same quality as the regular, experienced staff. Thus, quality suffers. Further, a deliberate attempt is made to clear up old stock in the festive season. The idea is that the customer is less watchful while he shops during this time of the year and old stock can be safely disposed off at the expense of the customer. Laziness of customers is another reason. When a product does not meet the requirements of the customer, many of them tend to ignore the occasional slip in the quality and do not complain. Attractive pricing schemes and discounts in the garb of ‘festive bonanza’ are another factor. The most obvious disadvantage of a readymade gift packed item is that the customer does not really know what is inside the packet. He does not has the option of tasting the product if it’s an eatable or judging the product by his senses of touch, smell, etc. if it is not an eatable. All he can do is to buy the product based on the goodwill of the brand. A majority of fraudulent methods include fake labels. Medium-sized shop owners are known to regularly indulge in such practices. They usually get away because the item is purchased by a person at one place, while it is consumed by another family at some other place (that’s how the idea of gifting works). Be careful of spelling alterations in the brand name. Unawareness of the rights which the customer possesses is another major reason customers are regularly duped of their hard earned money. Register a complaint in the consumer forum if the shopkeeper blatantly refuses to change the product or refuses to pay back the money. Creating a ruckus on the shop may sound primitive, but it works. By raising his/her voice, the aggrieved customer attracts the attention of other customers. This is the last thing which shopkeepers want. So, he may quickly pacify you. However, this option should be used only when other methods fail and should be exercised with some restraint. One must thoroughly check the brand spelling while buying gift wrapped items. Also, check the manufacturing/packaging date. Further, purchase the product from a well known shop/dealer. Reputation is all the well known shops and dealers have. They would try to pacify you in every possible manner if a product does not meet your expectations to save their reputation. Author: Jatin Agrawal More on Diwali and Gifts
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