JOIN USDeck the halls...
Christmas is synonymous with gifting. It’s also a time to go back to tradition. While online marketing is gaining popularity and people are sending gifts with the click of a button, there are a whole lot of people who enjoy gifting their friends and family the traditional way.
They say that nothing can take away the joy of giving and receiving a gift by hand. There is also the additional pleasure of going to a shop and choosing the right gift for your loved ones.
The stores in the City are decked up with greeting cards, stockings and a whole lot of Christmas goodies. While one may think that greeting cards are a thing of the past, they are not entirely out of the scene. The joy of holding a card is unmatched and echoing this sentiment are the stores that are stocked with a range of colourful festive greeting cards among other things.
Vivek Chandiramani, partner, Archies, Brigade Road, says greeting cards are still preferred by a lot of the customers. “There has been no drop in sales. Though retail stores have not been affected, the companies that make the cards might have. People still prefer buying cards along with mugs, stockings and other goodies. The cards have been replaced by gifts and therefore, we have a lot of gifting items to offer this Christmas — from stockings, showpieces, mugs, decorative items, soft toys and chocolate hampers. This Christmas, we have seen a major rise in the sales of mugs,” he informs.
On the other hand, Gowri, an employee of Higginbothams, says, “The greeting cards sell less nowadays. A few years ago, they were the most purchased gifts. But now, it’s only the elderly, who prefer buying them. Youngsters are bitten by the online bug and find going to a store tiresome. Also posting it is a time-consuming and cumbersome process.”
The whole process of shopping for Christmas was once upon a time looked forward to the entire year. The preparation itself starts a month in advance. Apart from cards and decorations, Christmas-themed napkins, candles and crockery are also sought-after. The shops in Shivajinagar, Commercial Street, Malleswaram, Avenue Road, Jayanagar are bustling with people at all times of the day.
Harshita, a student of Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni College for Women who was seen shopping at one of the stores, says, “Online gifting definitely saves time. But the whole point of gifting is to take time out and choose the best gifts for your loved ones. So I still prefer going to the stores and buying the gifts.”
Hansika, a professional, agrees, “I still prefer going to the stores because you can feel, read and select the best cards. Online cards are not the same.”
“Christmas was a time when we waited for the mailman to arrive. The cards we would get from our friends and relatives around the world were something we cherished forever. But today with the internet boom, the value of gifting is dwindling. Those good times will never come back,” says Jayalakshmi Rajan, an elderly
homemaker.