If you are looking to buy a car, apparel or white goods, now is the time. After all, it is not often that you get steep discounts in the months of May and June. Monsoon sales on apparel start usually by the end of June while electronics stores announce sale usually before Diwali. A range of deals—from freebies to price cuts—are available on goods ranging from big cars to smartphones.

Retailers have announced discounts to clear inventories due to the new indirect tax regime, the Goods and Services Tax, coming into force from July 1.

Below is a comprehensive list of discounts:

White goods
Costly home appliances are now available at 20 per cent to 40 per cent discount as retailers rush to clear their old inventories. The price tags are now slashed for TV sets, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines. The discounts vary, depending on the life of the old stock and the cost price. The usual discount offered by the retailers is 10 per cent to 15 per cent on maximum retail price. It will now significantly go up nearly threefold. Brands like Samsung, Panasonic, Hitachi and Videocon have come up with promotional offers, gifts and extended warranties to boost sales. Many other companies, such as LG India, are also offering attractive EMI schemes on select products.

Mumbai’s leading electronics retail chain, Kohinoor, is offering nearly 40 per cent discounts on goods kept on display.

Vijay Sales, which operates multi-brand consumer durables chain, is offering discounts from 25 per cent to 30 per cent on compressor-based products such as refrigerators and ACs. Samsung is offering a two-year warranty on TV sets and free Airtel DTH connection with a two-month subscription.

Paytm Mall launched a pre-GST clearance sale on electronics and large appliances from June 13 to June 15. Customers will win cashbacks of up to Rs 20,000 on items such as laptops, consumer durables, TVs and more.

Cars and bikes
Several carmakers such as Hyundai, Mahindra and Ford are doling out lucrative offers to draw buyers and clear stocks. Hyundai is offering price benefits in the range of Rs 25,000 (on Elite i20) to Rs 2,50,000 (on Santa Fe). Datsun is packaging deals with free insurance and reduced interest rates. Hyundai is offering pre-GST benefits across its range of vehicles -Rs 45,000 on Eon, Rs 62,000-73,000 on Grand i10, Rs 80,000-90,000 on Verna and Rs 25,000 on its new XCent till June 26, 2017. Maruti Suzuki is offering discounts of Rs 25,000-35,000 on Alto and Swift.

Mahindra is also offering discounts on these models: Rs 27,000 on Scorpio, Rs 61,000 on TUV300, Rs 72,000 on KUV100 and Rs 90,000 on XUV500 till June 30. Japanese auto major Honda Cars India has come out with an innovative scheme. It assures compensation to buyers in the event of a decline in vehicle prices after the implementation of the GST. Volkswagen fans can also enjoy benefits of up to Rs 76,000 and Rs 1,00,000 on Polo and Vento cars booked till June 20 and fully billed till June 30. The company is also offering reduced interest rate of 7.49%, free insurance, road-side assistance and extended warranty for three years. Nissan offers benefits of up to Rs 80,000 on sports utility vehicle Terrano and around Rs 25,000 on small car Micra. Ford is offering discounts of Rs 20,000-30000 on EcoSport and Rs 10,000-25,000 on Figo and Aspire depending on the variant.

Mercedes-Benz India has reduced prices by up to Rs 7.5 lakh of its locally assembled cars and SUVs. Its nine Made-in India models such as CLA, GLA, C-Class, E-class, S-Class, GLC, GLE, GLS and Mercedes-Maybach S500 get the price benefit from the GST and get more affordable. JLR has also slashed the price of three of its models in India by up to Rs 4 lakh. Audi has slashed prices of its models in India by up to Rs 10 lakh till June 30. BMW is offering customers financing at 7.90%, complimentary service and maintenance of three years, free insurance for the first year, and assured buyback for up to four years. Isuzu Motors India is offering discounts of up to Rs 1.5 lakh on its models such as the newly launched MU-X and the V-cross.

Bajaj Auto Ltd announced a reduction in prices of its motorcyles such as CT 100 and Dominor 400 up to Rs 4,500.

Apparel
Brick-and-mortar retailers are also slashing prices to liquidate merchandise, advancing their usual end-of-season sale by a month. Brands such as Puma is offering an extra 10% off on the flat 40% discount at stores. Allen Solly has a buy-one-get-one free scheme in its pre-GST end-of-season sale for members. Levi’s is giving away two items free on the purchase of two, while Flying Machine is giving up to 50% off and Pepe Jeans is running a buy-three-get-three offer.

Other brands and retailers such as Shoppers Stop, Charles and Keith, Chemistry, AND and Forever 21 also have discounts or other promotional offers running in their stores. More than 50 brands, including Aeropostale, Vero Moda, Under Armour, Kenneth Cole and Crocs are on a nine-day sale on Flipkart. Brands such as Biba and W are available at 30-50% discount on online fashion portal Myntra.

Paytm Mall launched a month-long Pre-GST Clearance Sale on June 13 offering items such as footwear and accessories at up to 50% off plus 25% cashback. Pantaloons has announced a pre-GST preview sale from June 16 to June 18. The apparel brand is also offering free shopping vouchers worth Rs 6,000 on Rs 6,000 apart from up to 10 per cent cashback on e-wallets and cards. Wills Lifestyle has a buy-two-get-one offer on clothing.

Discounts on apparel are driven by the GST Council’s decision earlier this month that man-made apparel above Rs 1,000 will attract a 12% levy, higher than the existing 7%.

Online retailers
Paytm is giving up to 15 per cent on budget smartphones, 15 per cent on smartphones with battery more than 300mAh, up to Rs 9,000 cashback on android phones such as Gionee, Vivo and other brands. iPhones 7(128GB), which actually costs Rs 70,000 on the site, is available at a discount of 24%. The iPhone 7 (32GB) is available at Rs 46,182 after discount. iPhone 6S (32GB) will cost Rs 36,666 after discount and iPhone 5S is available at Rs 27,285 to the buyers. The Paytm is further giving cashback on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus. The iPhone 7 Red (256GB) is priced at Rs 70,999 against the original price which is Rs 80,000. Paytm is also offering Rs 20,000 cashback on Lenovo laptops, DSLR cameras and up to Rs 10,000 discounts on refrigerators, TVs and ACs. It is also offering up to Rs 20,000 cashback on LED TVs. Paytm Mall is also offering discounts on footwear and accessories up to 50% plus 25% cashback.

Flipkart has an ongoing sale on fashion products from June 10 to June 18 to clear its inventories. ’Bid n Win’ contest will also be open for the customers during the nine-day sale. The unique bidders will win premium prize like Emporio Armani watch worth Rs 13,995 and Victorinox bag worth Rs 15,960. Flipkart will also host a ’Guess the brand Quiz’, where the customers have to identify the brand logos to win prizes. Flipkart is also giving up to Rs 2,000 off on exchange offer for newly launched MotoZ2 Play and Rs 10,000 off on exchange for Microsoft Surface Pro 4.

On Amazon Big Sale, the e-commerce company is giving a cashback of up to Rs 16,000 on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. It is also offering 35 per cent off on desktops and monitors. You can also get a discount of Rs 13,501 on LG G6 and Rs 28,560 off on LG V20. The e-commerce giant will also offer 80 per cent discount on apparels starting from June 23 to June 25.

ShopClues is organising seller summit in different cities, sending regular updates to merchants through mails and updating GST-related information on its seller portal.

 17 Jun 2017, 06:01 AM