Buy One Get One Free

by SHIVANI SINGH THARU

FROM ISSUE # 149 (May 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Shakespeare's famous portrayal of conflict of mind in Hamlet rightly suit the dilemma that consumers live with everyday–to buy or not to buy.

The rise of consumerism has left people wandering in stores for hours, even when they know exactly what they're looking for. Numerous choices make consumers sceptics. This culture thrives on the notion that there's something for everyone. The matter is especially hopeless considering women's beauty products. If you go to buy just a moisturiser, you end-up buying a toner, scrub, exfoliating cream, day cream, night cream, eye cream…and the list goes on. Today necessity isn't followed by commodity; it's the other way round.

There's more out there than what we really need. It could have been worse too, since manufacturing companies were trying to conduct consumer behaviour surveys but were stopped by western consumers' right's activists. Had the activists failed, we would possibly have been buying unnecessary products. Imagine buying knickers and panty-liners for a pet dog!

A range of products and a competitive market strategy indeed gives the consumer an opportunity to select the best, but the options are now becoming overbearing. Therefore, rather than deciding how much is too much or how little is enough; the confused consumer has to decide how much is sufficient.

Knowing the buyers' philosophy of 'cheap and good', the sellers basically manipulate this in a creative way. Besides the usual attractive advertisements, the few manifestations of this manipulation are these: buy one get one free, family pack offer, exchange offer and discount offer.

Since there's no blossoming manufacturing industry in Nepal, we haven't yet had the luxury of witnessing the circus rivalry of selling strategies. Yet we Nepalis have our own business area where such strategies are at work. Today, there are restaurants called, 'Rato Bhale'. 'Jhakas', 'Jwai Sahab Thali, and 'Jeere Khursani' to name a few. It seems that an eccentric name attracts attention from consumers. Recently politics has also entered the picture. Businesses have gone further to name restaurants as 'Janmat' (in Putalisadak), and a co-operative commercial bank "Janamukti" (in Sukedhara); the changing political climate resonating in these names. Some day, one shouldn't be surprised to witness names like 'Comrade Sekuwa Corner', or 'Lal Salam Laundry Service' or 'Shahid Cold Store'. Or even slogans like 'Pratikriyavadi Maila Hatauna, Krantikari Sabun'. Nothing is wrong in being creative, but are these products really what they claim to be?

It is natural to wonder what this culture's future is. Seeing the present tendency of consumerism, and the pessimistic predictions of climatic catastrophes, population boom and pollution, the future probably holds a doomsday scenario. Because crisis is already visible in food and fuel shortages, who knows what tomorrow holds? Therefore, we have to change our consuming habits and adopt modest lifestyles, no matter how driven we are by the 'mad-ad' world. However, this advice is only applicable to the people who want to make a difference.