Energising consumer spending

The school of thought that propagates upping marketing spend during dull times may well be revising its propagation. To the consternation and annoyance of hapless consumers a barrage of Telemarketing is fast replacing the more traditional spends in getting the message across. Short messaging services push offer after offer through the airways and some of the concepts are innovative to say the least.
This was an inevitability from the beginning of the year with grumbling executives turning pale at the targets set. It becomes clear that such targets are not being met when the unseasonal 'offer' procession begins. The 'buy something get something free' message is a telling one.
So from the discounts offered led by banks and telcos for use of their products through tie-ups with other product companies, a shift is taking place. Car sellers are now active as even are courier services. Everyone is in competition to extract the zealously guarded spare cash in consumer wallets. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies have introduced all kinds of competitions with enticing prizes albeit spurred by purchases. All of which descends in addition to the special occasion promos.
Grocery outlets display signs of bundle offers and packages, eager promoters are quick to approach the shopper at upmarket outlets with the new concept of a basket of products -- some which the consumer may not well need. All in exchange for a discount. Needless to say, the consumer need not be an expert to figure out that margins are being squeezed. The shift is in some areas that defy the imagination in terms of impertinence of a high degree. Travel packages are common but when someone offers to handle the visa process in exchange of a fee, the confused traveller may well ask why he or she cannot get the visa in the prescribed process. More pertinent is the inaction by relevant authorities in snuffing out unholy activity business or not.
Trade-offs are common to business and up market grocery outlets are learning fast from the FMCG  pack in terms of the special bundle offer. Evening shoppers will be familiar with the concept of apparent freebies from street vegetable vendors. Having haggled their way through to a satisfactory price, they are often offered the rest of the stuff at a discounted rate. This was the basis of the theory that Point of Sales is the most critical area of sales. That's where the shopper makes up his/her mind; that's where impulse buying takes place.
So in addition to the 'special' rates offered to offload larger inventories of perishable products we are now informed that an egg can cost Tk 1.0 if bought in conjunction with another product that the manufacturer wants to push. The subsidy factor at work again. However, with vegetable prices headed north, an impending beef supply crisis and under price-pressure staples, the playing around is likely to become more intense.
One of the telcos recently put their net profit decline to higher operational costs. Others prefer to provide dividends in stock options rather than cash. The resulting impact on the stock market is there for everyone to see. More than flood waters have trickled relentlessly. Impact on crops, export bans on onions out of India and the zealous anti-beef state level strategy are pointing to one direction -- an Eid to remember or rather forget.
(The writer may be reached at mahmudrahman@gmail.com)