In O Henry?s classic Christmas story The Gift of the Magi, Della Young sells her most prized possession?her long, beautiful hair?in order to buy her husband, Jim, a Christmas present. The present she chooses is a chain for Jim?s heirloom pocket watch, the only valuable thing he owns.
When she presents her gift to Jim, she discovers that he has sold his watch in order to buy a set of ornate combs for her beautiful hair. The moral of the story is to basically warn against the urge to splurge, which becomes irresistible at the time of festivals like Diwali.
Economic downturn notwithstanding, there are a number of reasons why people cannot resist digging into their wallets come Diwali time. One is the nature of the festival itself, which signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and hope over despair. In other words, it instils a subconscious uplifting of the collective mood. It?s this elevated mood that often increases impulsive shopping behaviour, which, over the years, has become increasingly ostentatious and expensive.
Go to a Frazer & Haws shop before Diwali, and you will be amazed at the display, almost every item is a Krishna or Lakshmi in myriad poses, some costing lakhs. And there are no dearth of customers buying items as gifts or for their own homes as a spiritual hope for good fortune. Frazer & Haws is a British company but it has tapped into the Indian psyche very profitably.
Unlike other festivals like Christmas or Eid, Diwali celebrations last for five days and encourage the spirit of spending?new clothes for everyone, decorations for the home, firecrackers and diyas, gifts for friends, family, employees, prospective clients?the list gets longer each year.
Then there are the parties and ritualistic card games where small fortunes can be made or lost. There is also the retail lure, the deals and discounts, the attractive offers, and the fact that many companies release exciting new products just before Diwali to take advantage of the spending urge.
Both Apple and Samsung launched their new premium phones just before Diwali. Significantly, the spiritual deity of Diwali is the goddess Lakshmi who symbolises wealth and prosperity. There is also Dhanteras, which is a major shopping day, particularly for gold or silver articles. It?s also considered auspicious to buy a new car on this day, when dealers are offering the best deals.
Diwali optimism is contagious and has an invisible impact on spending. As per a study by Assocham, companies have upped their budget for festive spending and corporate gifting by nearly 15% over 2013. As per the chamber: ?Rise in consumer confidence together with improved job security, a perceptive improvement in business sentiment and festive optimism has encouraged India Inc to increase their budget for festive spending for clients and employees by about 10-15% this Diwali.?
The core of Diwali splurging is, however, historical and socio-economic. Despite a weakened economy, Indians in general are expected to spend more during this year?s Diwali, as per a survey by PayPal.
The survey says that 45% of Indians are expected to spend more during this year?s Diwali season than they did last year. One reason is that most middle-class Indians who saw their prosperity increase during the boom years before 2009, got into the habit of spending more than the usually would, and find it difficult if not impossible to cut down on the lifestyle they had gotten used to. That triggered a familiar Western syndrome?keeping up with the Jones, or Jains. If your neighbour was spending big on decorations, crackers, gifts and parties, you needed to match, if not surpass, their efforts.
Adding to this is the fact that gifts have got expensive and an act of self-expression. From boxes of sweets and dry fruits, it?s now Frazer & Haws statues or hampers from five-star hotels with exotic imported goodies and champagne/ wines not available in the open market. The psychology is also to do with retail therapy. Shopping for family and friends puts people in a good mood and this increased positive energy often results in a surge of impulsive buying.
Research shows that giving gifts makes people feel happy, probably even happier than when they are on the receiving end. The villains of the spending urge are plastic and the magic machine called ATM. Armed with credit cards, impulsive shopping is easy to succumb to, since paying at a later date and in installments robs the moment of any temporary feeling of guilt. Like Christmas in western societies, Diwali in India marks the high point of spending, regardless of the rising cost of living.
Then we have the growing issue of brand consciousness among urban Indians. It is no longer enough during Diwali to buy a new outfit. It has to be a new ?designer? outfit and jewellery to match.
Indeed, one famous line used to describe the Indian middle-class consumer was, ?The change in the living style and consumption pattern of the Indian consumer can be described as ?socialism is out and Sony-ism is in?!?
Adding to the urge to splurge are EMIs and consumer loans, which means that people are taking calculated risks to achieve a better lifestyle. There?s no time like Diwali to see that being put into practice.
The writer is Group Editor, Special Projects & Features, The Indian Express
