A man enters a shop to buy a TV and walks out with a 55-inch 4K OLED set with a Rs 2.5 lakh-plus price tag. A car dealership on the Bypass delivers a vehicle every 10 minutes over 10 hours. Three college-going cousins walk into an Apple store on the night of the iPhone 6 launch and pick up seven of them.

Dhanteras and Diwali shopping has witnessed the retailing equivalent of a steroidal rush this year, reducing the gloom-and-doom in 2013 for buyers and sellers alike.

The packed car showrooms across town on Tuesday proved that Dhanteras shopping is no longer confined to bringing home a piece of jewellery, a gold coin or two and bric-a-brac. When it comes to festive buying, big is in.

The city’s Audi dealership had 10 deliveries lined up on Tuesday against one or two at the most on a normal day. “Bookings start a month in advance but there are also some that come at the last moment,” said an Audi official in Calcutta.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a spike in sales, too. A salesman at the JLR dealership on AJC Bose Road said the condition set by most customers while booking their cars during the festive period was that the delivery should be on Dhanteras or Diwali. “Most of our clients are those who change their cars or add another to their garage before Diwali.”

If the luxury marques were trying to cope with double-digit deliveries on a single day, Maruti alone had 400 cars to deliver through its dealerships in the city on Tuesday. “Normally, it is 100 to 125 cars a day,” said Mohit Jindal, regional manager, Maruti India.

Bengal Hyundai salesman Anirban, who has been with the company’s Park Street dealership for four years, is now a pro at handling the Dhanteras rush.

“On a normal day, we have three to four cars to deliver. On Dhanteras this year, we have 22. Besides, if you count all our branches, we have to hand over the keys to about 40 cars in a day,” he said.

BUY-BUY CROWD BETS BIG ON DHANTERAS

Dhanteras crowd at the Anjali Jewellers store in Bowbazar on Tuesday evening. Pictures by Amit Datta

Pinnacle Honda’s Prosenjit Roy said 50-plus deliveries on Dhanteras was a challenge the dealership had happily accepted. “We have the Brio, the Amaze, City and the Mobilio. While the line-up itself is one of the reasons for the queue, the majority of those who buy cars at this time of the year prefer a Dhanteras delivery.”

According to an estimate by Saurabh Kedia, director of Shree Honda and also dealer for Mahindra and Ashok Leyland, about 1,000 cars of different makes were delivered in the city on Tuesday.

“Buying cars on Dhanteras has long been a practice in north and western India. In Calcutta and Bengal overall, it’s a new trend. Sixteen Honda and 39 Mahindra cars were delivered from my showrooms on Tuesday,” said Kedia, who is chairman of Motor Industry Association, West Bengal.

Cars and jewellery weren’t the only high-value purchases made on Dhanteras Tuesday. Premium household appliances like curved televisions and double-door refrigerators were in demand too.

Jiten Chawla, owner of Cams Corner on Camac Street that is an LG dealership, said: “Our high-end products have done very good well, including the large-screen 4K LED and OLED TVs, inverter ACs and large-size fridges. People are coming in with a budget of Rs 30,000-40,000, only to opt for high-end technology (that costs double or triple).”

The rise in demand for premium products across the consumer appliances spectrum was confirmed by Anirudh Dhoot, director of Videocon. “Our company is aiming for sales worth Rs 2,000 crore this festive season, which is 30 per cent more than in the previous year.”

It helps that there are easy finance options that all go by the magic abbreviation EMI. Ask Sanjay Chordia, owner of the Apple store Imagine at Quest mall.

“Our midnight launch of the iPhone 6 (on October 16) was well attended. iPhone sales have grown four times over last year. Demand for the iMac desktop has risen 10 per cent and that for the iPad has grown five per cent. The more we make products affordable by way of EMIs or cashback and exchange schemes, sales will go up,” he said.

At the forefront of making aspirations affordable with eye-popping discounts and EMI schemes are the e-tailers. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, senior vice-president (retail) of Flipkart, said: “We have seen unprecedented traffic this Diwali, compared to last year. The lifestyle category, especially apparel, performed exceedingly well for us this festive season. The large appliances category, launched this year, has been very well received. TVs have done well for us this Diwali and mobiles have always been one of our best-performing categories.”

The rival online camp, Amazon India, has seen its electronics and kitchen products sales grow nearly six times over the Diwali Dhamaka Week (October 10-16). And Calcutta apparently figures among the top e-shopping cities, although figures weren’t immediately available.

In the jewellery segment too, online presence has made a difference to sales. Anargha Chowdhury, director of Anjali Jewellers, said: “We have been selling jewellery online at www.anjalijewellers.in and orders are being delivered at customers’ doorsteps. The awareness created by various online portals has helped increase our Dhanteras sales.”

Bowbazar, the city’s jewellery hub, dazzled till late on Tuesday with the larger stores witnessing long queues.

At Anjali Jewellers, buyers had to queue up for 20 minutes on an average to get in and, once inside, even longer to make a selection and get delivery. The Bowbazar outlet of P.C. Chandra Jewellers saw buyers bunched together like in a Puja pandal. Anil Jain, vice-president, marketing of P.C. Chandra Jewellers, said “We have recovered from the slump in 2013 and hopefully will meet our targets.”

And where would all that razzle-dazzle be without designer wardrobes to match? Fashion designer Abhishek Dutta said the number of Calcuttans buying designer wear had definitely increased. “Many are picking up pre-stitched saris, Anarkali jackets and palazzos.”

Designer Agnimitra Paul said people had generally been sceptical about spending during the 2013 festive season because of the economy.

For the feel-good moment, it seems nothing can make the festive spirit bitter, not even a rise in prices. Rajesh Gupta, partner in sweet chain Gupta Brothers, said: “This year people have been buying sweets a week in advance compared to two-three days ahead of Diwali in previous years.”

What big purchase did you make this Dhanteras and Diwali? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com