Update 1: Product Placement
Few months ago, we ran a series of posts on product placement (read here, here and here) – and have been receiving several hits on the topic. We recently came across this article in the Mint about the race of advertisers towards product placement and co-promotions with Bollywood films in the upcoming festive season, and thought it would make an interesting read for our readers, so here’s the link.
Update 2: Flash Sales
The latest entrant in the global flash sales space is the chain of upscale department stores, Saks Fifth Avenue. Their flash sales site is called Saks Fashion Fix. 
The first department store of the type to enter the category was Nordstrom with its purchase of HauteLook.com early this year.
The difference here is that Saks is hosting the flash sales website on its current website itself, hoping to lure in consumers to its regular items as well. Also, given its long standing relationships with vendors, it should be able to avoid the pitfall of having a shortage of merchandise to sustain its flash sales initiative.
But, given that this space is dominated by leaders like Gilt, HauteLook, Rue La La, Ideeli, etc., will Saks Fashion Fix be just another flash sales website or will it have something different and exciting to offer?
To read our previous series of posts on flash sales, click here.
By,
Escape Velocity Team.
As much as I enjoy shopping, I think that flash sales might make the shopping experience more like a day at the races. Whatever happened to the leisurely weekend shopping that was an excuse to step out of the house? Is consumer behavior changing based on such platforms or would this remain a niche market?
Hi Rahul
Agreed that it does take away from the pleasure of shopping, but think about the access that these flash sales websites provide to all non-metro India. In the post that we ran about ‘Who is buying’ we spoke about how a large proportion of the business for such ventures is coming from smaller towns. Hailing from a small town myself, I can tell you that this is a huge boon to people living in non-metros. You talk about the leisurely weekend shopping, but most of these towns don’t have malls and even if they do, they don’t have the wide range of brands that one finds in malls in metros. I can tell you from experience that when I became a member of such flash sales websites and sent invites to my friends – it was my friends who still live in non-metros who were the first to jump upon such memberships.
Sure, consumer behavior is changing based on such platforms, and it is a niche market right now given that there is such low credit card penetration in India, but this is leading to newer innovations by the flash sales websites (such as cash on delivery) to open up the market even more. So surely, slowly but steadily, this market will grow, but only time will tell if only certain product categories find a market through such platforms or if such propositions will only appeal to a certain market.
Best,
Roshni