Shopaholics, retailers enjoy a great weekend

By Nachiket Kelkar and Vivin Mathew, CNBC-TV18

Retailers across the country rolled out discount sales over the long weekend and shoppers seem to have had a blast, grabbing everything from everyday essentials to hi-tech gadgets.

It was a shopping frenzy across the country over the long weekend with almost every retailer offering discount sales.Future Group, for example, had the Mahabachat Campaign in Big Bazaar and the 'blind fold' sale in electronics store ezone; the group as a whole raked in more than Rs 300 crores in the past five days.

Kishore Biyani, CEO of Future Group said that Big Bazaar achieved its projected target of approximately Rs 200 crores. However, the surprise was the other formats, particularly Home Town, electronics business through ezone. ezone was a big surprise and he think that as a group they crossed Rs 350 crores in these five days. He added that this mark was not just pulses and grains; of the Rs 350 crore, more that Rs 100 crores came from the higher margin electronics goods sales. Given the stupendous success that the first ever Independence Day sale has enjoyed, Biyani says that such events could become more frequent.

Other retailers, while refusing to give any numbers, say that footfalls have increased by between 3-5 times over the sale weekend.