'upto' 50% OFF

As the title suggests, in this point I’m going to rant about the lavish sales all these popular brands are having. To begin with, the sign boards. Although they call it psychology, I guess it’s in our Desi mentality to get attracted to discounts and signboards that shout, ‘SALE’. I’m not even going to deny, I fall for it. Every time.

Talking from a semi-shopaholic perspective, there is something beguiling about these sales. I recently visited The Palladium Mall in Mumbai for a quick shopping spree and the following were my findings:

1)   There are more people than clothes. (TIP: Never ever go shopping to Mumbai malls on weekends. Unless you like grinding with old aunties who think they’re hot)

 2)   As I said above, in malls one shall find middle-aged, forty-something Moms strutting around in their wedged heels and skin-tight jeans trying to fit into something that was meant for an 18 year old. It’s just an observation but the odds are that she’s coloured her hair blonde.

 3)   Whatever you like is either not available in your size, out of stock or grabbed by some $%^c# after you have eyed it, liked it and are walking towards it.

 4)   Stores have more to offer during sales than on regular days. HOW? Talking from observation, I strongly suspect that stores like Zara and even Mango put up low quality clothing (Like the stuff that you find on the streets) on sale just by adding the tag and also bumping the price up by about a grand. Watch out, folks.

 5)   Talking about tricks and signboards, I made another observation in Zara. The signboards above the clothing racks read for eg: ‘Rs 1390’ with a tiny, illegible ‘onwards’ next to it. I mean, seriously? Next what? ‘Rs 100 onwards’?

 6)   The queues outside the trial rooms and cash counters are longer than the Great Wall of China.
 7)   The enticing 50% off that they show off proudly outside the store is applicable not even to a meager 5% of the stock that is put up. 

I bet most of you have already observed some of the aforementioned. Even so, we go, spend thousands and return home with smug smiles on our faces as we dump all the shopping bags on the couch. There must be something, right?