Women shop at a mall in Mumbai for Diwali. (AFP)

Oct. 26: From “shop till you drop” last year when the sensex was upwardly mobile, it’s become “dance, drop, but please shop” this year as the bourse bloodbath continues.

Mall managers in places like Jaipur and Ahmedabad, where pre-Diwali sales form a big chunk of a trader’s annual earnings, are conjuring innovative ways to attract footfalls and get the people to do some buying.

Discounts, freebies, special prices and schemes: all the baits are there but customers, feeling the hard pinch of the paisa, have so far not fallen for them.

Ramakant, the manager of City Pulse mall in Jaipur, said the biggest challenge was to get the customers in.

“We thought of adding a dance floor with a DJ to lure the young crowd so they would at least spend sometime grooving in the arcade for free. In the process, they may end up doing some impulse buying,” Ramakant said.

Biswajitsinh Rathod, manager at a mall in upmarket west Ahmedabad, agreed.

“People come in, but the footfalls don’t translate into purchases. Most people just do window-shopping at malls,” he said.

“If at all they buy anything, they prefer street vendors or the walled city area across the Sabarmati, where prices are cheaper. In normal times, these people would not have gone there to shop.”

Although traders say that sales picked up on Wednesday’s auspicious Pushay Nakshatra, the economic meltdown has proved a damper for the common man.

Preeti Masukhani, a bank official in Jaipur, said: “With the prices of every commodity rising, from vegetables to petrol, our Diwali budget has come down this year. Each one of us has been affected by the meltdown despite playing safe.”

Masukhani, who earns over Rs 2 lakh a month, added: “Our Diwali budget was Rs 50,000 last year, but this year it has come down to Rs 20,000. We have put off our plan to buy an LCD television. We have also cut down on exchanging gifts with our friends and everybody understands why.”

A weak rupee and the prevailing uncertainty have led to a fall in sales of cars too. Harvinder Singh of Roshan Motors in Jaipur admitted to a 30 per cent drop from last year in car sales in Rajasthan.

“Not even cars in the lower segment are moving,” he said.

With the equity market in the red and people not left with much disposable money, there has been a 30 per cent drop in bookings for leisure travel as well, said Jatin Shah, manager of Tsunami Tour and Travel, Ahmedabad.

Shah said tour operators were the worst affected, especially those who had “blocked” seats in many airlines in anticipation — a common practice that has turned out a big gamble this year. These people stand to lose the 25 per cent non-refundable amount they had paid in advance.

For those in the jewellery trade, the picture is no different. Business is down by 40 per cent, said Amit Zaveri, who owns a showroom in Ahmedabad’s C.G. Road.

“But there is a distinct preference for diamond as against gold. Those who can afford it are still buying diamond-studded jewellery,” he said.

The reason, Zaveri said, is that gold prices are fluctuating whereas the price of diamond is stable.

“So diamond, an all-time favourite, is still considered a safe investment.”