End of season sale attracts shoppers

KATHMANDU, JAN 23 -

With the winter season on the way out, many clothing shops in the Kathmandu valley have started putting winter wear in the sale. Shops selling branded garments and shoes have been attracting customers with cash discounts.

Outlets of brands like Monte Carlo, Springwood, John Players, Crocodile and Erke have announced cash discounts of 20 to 50 percent on various clothing items and footwear.

Reebok, Blackberrys and Peter England are also preparing to put their winter collection in the sale with special discounts.

Ravi KC, corporate vice-president of Surya Nepal which deals in John Players garments, said putting winter wear in the sale had helped to clear unsold stocks.

“As about a month is left before the winter season ends, we are clearing winter clothing to display summer clothing,” he said. “Winter sales happen mostly from October to December. After mid-January, we have to hold a clearance sale to sell off winter stocks.”

Surya Nepal, which has its own apparel brand Springwood, is offering discounts of 20 to 50 percent on its various winter collections. “We are offering a 20 percent discount on most of our fresh woollen clothes,” said Nishi Sharma, showroom in-charge of Monte Carlo at Civil Mall.

“Customers who had been waiting for our clearance sale have started coming.” She added that some customers wait till the end of the season to buy clothes at a sale. “Basically, there are two types of customers—those who like stylish and newly designed clothes and buy them at the arrival of the season and those who don’t need to be so fashionable and wait for the end of season sale,” Sharma said.

The outlet sells sweaters, jackets, coats and track suits for both males and females with prices starting at Rs 3,000.

Meanwhile, customers have started thronging stores to buy branded clothes at discounted prices. Prashanti Shrestha, a resident of New Road who had been waiting for the end of season

sale, said that every year she buys branded clothes at lower prices.

“Though some of the clothes displayed in the shop windows are too small or too big for most people, they really suit me,” she said. “I bought boots and down jackets for myself.”  

She added that such sales were good for her. “As the winter season has not gone yet, I can wear them now and I can also wear the same clothes next year,” she said.

A number of retailers said that they were holding clearance sales as they were able to sell fewer winter clothes this year due to their higher prices.

They added that they had also launched their end of season sale two weeks earlier than usual.

“During this season, sales of winter clothes were down 15-20 percent compared to last year, so we have announced our end of season sale two week earlier to finish up the sale,” said Rajani Thapa, store manager of the Crocodile outlet at Civil Mall.

(Source: The Kathmandu Post)