Bhubaneswar, Oct. 11: Durga Puja is just a week away and with most major apparel brands offering huge discounts, people are lining outside these stores, leaving small traders in the lurch.
Every evening, the puja crowd could be seen thronging the stretch between Vani Vihar and Rajmahal Square, which houses the outlets of major brands.
Many of these outlets are offering discounts to attract customers, while others are offering gifts with every purchase.
Some of them are even giving away scratch-and-win coupons, with attractive prizes on offer for the winners.
"We are offering a special festive discount of seven per cent on all items. We are selling clothing for men, women and kids, keeping in minds the latest fashion trends," said Durga Prasad Panda, director of shopping store Panda Lifestyle.
A number of popular e-commerce websites such as Snapdeal, Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon and Jabong are also giving huge discounts to customers on purchase of popular brands of apparel, footwear and accessories.
With e-commerce sites and malls with deeper pockets offering a huge variety and massive discounts to the customers, the smaller outlets are facing the heat.
"Earlier, people used to shop from smaller stores because they used to find our items affordable. Also, they used to bargain to bring down the prices further. However, with shopping malls and e-commerce sites offering huge discounts this season, it has become extremely difficult for us to do business. Our footfall has decreased," said Subrat Mallick, an apparel storeowner at Market Building.
While owners of small stores echoed Mallick's views, shoppers are happy that they are getting branded products at cheap prices.
"I began my Puja shopping last week. This year, I am buying most of my clothes online as it saves times and offers a large number of choices," said corporate employee Monalisa Pradhan.
While many of the shoppers are planning to go traditional, others are going for fusion. Jumpsuits and playsuits are quite a hit among the customers.
This apart, long dresses in straight cuts and palazzo pants are also very popular. For those who are going for the nine-yard drape, handloom or embroidered saris are quick picks.
While the various exhibitions have given the shoppers more variety to choose from, they have added to the woes of the local shopkeepers this year.
Buyers are splurging on a range of saris such as the Assamese muga silk, chanderi from Madhya Pradesh, baluchari from Bengal, Bhagalpur silk from Bihar and the tussar organic silk from Jharkhand that are available at these exhibitions.
A two-day fair, Melange, which concluded yesterday, witnessed around 40 designers from across the country showcasing their creations in ethnic and western wear.
"I prefer handloom saris during the festivals. The exhibitions offer huge varieties to choose from," said Ananya Barik, a homemaker.
