Big Bazaar eyes BIG cash flow from Mahabachat Shopping Festival.

The Future Group-owned value retailer Big Bazaar expects a 20 per cent spurt is sales (over last year) during the fifth edition of its “the Mahabachat” annual shopping, which this year is being promoted as a fight against inflation.  

The retailer is eying revenues of Rs 350-400 crore from the five-day Mahabachat shopping festival starting on Wednesday.  

The Eastern region alone would account for about 16 per cent of the revenues garnered during the period, at about Rs 65 crore, according to Mr Manish Agarwal, Sales and Merchandising (East), Big Bazaar.  

“The expected footfall across the 25 formats in eastern region during this five-day period will not be less than Rs 20 lakh. Business growth during this period will be close to about 25 per cent,” Mr Agarwal said, while announcing the launch of the shopping festival in Kolkata on Tuesday.  

The ‘Mahabachat’ (super savings) festival would have offers and deals on over 300 products across several categories from food to apparel to kitchenware, electronics to jewellery. “We are hoping the ‘Mahabachat’ event, with aggressive pricing and discounts, will lessen the burden of inflation. On branded products, we will offer 15-25 per cent discounts and we have kept the prices of unbranded products at realistic honest levels. While Big Bazaar always offers good deals, we will be the cheapest in these five days,” said Mr Sadashiv Nayak, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Future Value Retail. 

On how the retailer has managed the price logistics, Mr Nayak said Big Bazaar has relied heavily on bulk buying (in some cases at least seven to eight months in advance) to take advantage of cost dynamics and pass on the benefits to consumers. In the case of garments, Big Bazaar has placed special orders from the textile hubs of Tirupur and Punjab. The retailer has also worked out efficient supply chain logistics by creating ‘mother hubs’ around the country for sourcing products from vendors in and around the region. 

Around 30 per cent of the ‘Mahabachat’ offers will be available online at bigbazaar.com.