Puja time is shopping time in Kolkata!

Its puja time again and Kolkata has turned into the country's shopping capital. Sales are up 20% over last year and marketers rushing in to cash in on the shopping fever.

Its not just the best time for devotees, even marketers in Kolkata are riding high with festive fever. In just one month of festive season, city sees business worth more than Rs 500 crore. We tell you, what sells the most.

Clothes! And that’s because you need a new outfit for every day of Durga Puja. Industry sees sales jump by 40%, 2 weeks before the puja and the frenzy continues for a month. So retailers like pantaloon for instance have increased investments towards promotions and offers by 50%.

More than 50% of a family's festive budget is kept aside for apparel followed by eating out and electronic goods.

Manish Agarwal , Chief Operation Officer- East, Big Bazaar , says, “.... this year apparel has seen a bigger boost....”

Apart from organized players, even traditional open markets offer discounts and freebies, adding to the competition. Gariahat market for instance, sells about 5 lakh sarees every day during puja. Apart from dressing up stores, marketers like Pepsi and Samsung are out in the pandals too.

Homi Batliwala, VP-Emerging Categories, Pepsico India says, “it gives us the opportunity to interact with the consumers.... activate promotions, contests…”

Kolkata has more than 1500 pandals, multiply that with 15000 daily footfalls per pandal during pujas. That's the mileage achieved in less than 10 days. Something marketers would definitely not want to miss!