Date:15/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/08/15/stories/2006081501270500.htm

Back At Shoppers' Stop, it's always festive season

Sravanthi Challapalli

To keep customers flocking to its shelves, retain interest

RAJASTHANI folk artists performing at the Parikrama Festival at Shoppers' Stop in Chennai in this file picture.

Chennai , Aug. 14

It needn't be just the festive season that evokes interest and creates a spike in shopping - Shoppers' Stop has hit upon the tactic of having various `festivals' throughout the year to keep customers flocking to its shelves.

Speaking to Business Line, Ms Sheetal Choksi (Customer Care Associate and General Manager - Marketing and Communications, Shoppers' Stop), said the retail chain has been having various festivals down the years and found them to be a good way to retain customer interest.

Parikrama

Right now it's Parikrama, a festival centred on Indian art and crafts, which has been running continuously for the last seven years.

This year, the theme is embroidery from the Mughal and Rajput era - clothes and accessories such as bags and shoes across Shoppers' Stop's private labels Kashish, Stop and Haute Curry will be adorned with forms of embroidery such as zardosi, chikankari, kantha, gota, kinari, aari work and kashidakari.

Interaction with artisans

Shoppers' Stop has also brought the artisans who do this work to all its outlets so that customers can watch them at work and interact with them. They can even get some work done by them, Ms Choksi said.

The artisans are those associated with Shoppers' Stop's vendors or non-government organisations interested in their welfare. This festival aids the revival of these crafts and the livelihood of small artisans, she added. Visual merchandising is another way by which Shoppers' Stop is bringing people into its stores - it is dressing up store interiors with wooden frames and embroidered displays to give them an ethnic and historic feel to go with the mood of Parikrama.

The chain has also run the Do Your Denim fest, where customers could choose from a variety of denimwear and even create their own designs on apparel bought from the store, for the last two years, and the salwar kameez dupatta exchange festival continuously for the last five years.

The retail chain also runs contests and other activities to go with its festivals.