Thursday, August 20, 2009

Jeans on EMI!!

I recently saw an advertisement and it caught me off-guard. I was bewildered for a moment. Most of them who did come across this ad would have felt the same as I did.

Levis and Co which invented Jeans and made it so popular and trendy that everyone wanted to own a pair, has come up with a unique concept to beat the slow sales and keep its cash registers clinking.

They are it seems offering jeans with an EMI option for 3 months with 0% interest. Its a pilot project that's been started first in Bangalore and it will be introduced to other cities as well if this scheme works out. They have a tie-up with ICICI credit cards. Minimum purchase must be of Rs 1500. So if I buy a pair of jeans for Rs 1500, then I have to pay Rs 500 each month for the next 3 months. And the jeans company takes care to pay the bank's service charges for these 3 months, so you need not have to shell out anything extra. Isn't this cool? Its weird too. It does seem to be working out for them. It seems the sales has gone up by 50%. So just keep your eyes and ears open; for you might just end up discovering the same scheme in your city.

Maybe the company is doing it due to downturn. People are not spending on apparels as much as they used to spend earlier. But apparels in India is not value-priced. Or is this scheme available only on nominally priced jeans? What if I want to buy a cool pair of jeans with Swarovski crystals embellished on the rear or real diamonds maybe?

It would have taken everyone by surprise, the retailers, the competitors. It seems to be the first of its kind for apparels. I am not sure if this has been already tired anywhere else in the world. But does it make sense? How about the returns, the transaction charges incurred? Would it work out for the company? Would it work out for the franchisee? We have seen EMI options being offered for cars, consumer durables where their value is high and the product can be recovered if the customer defaults.

But Jeans??
What would the bank do by repossessing Jeans? Wash them again, redo the embroidery, stud in crystals if they are broken or worn out, fix the fly and resell?
I wonder what would they do if someone defaults payments. Would the bank's recovery agents chase that person wearing the jeans and strip him off on the road!!!!

Talk about new ways of selling!!

20 comments:

  1. Nice post. Under this plan, when can the customer take delivery of the jeans?

    In USA, every departmental store has a plan called "layaway plan". You can buy anything under this plan. You make payments in monthly installments. You take delivery upon full payment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi SG,

    The delivery is immediate. You take the jeans and pay in 3 EMIs. This is not a layaway plan.

    It might work like this. Use ICICI credit card, swipe Rs 1500 and possess the jeans. You call the bank and convert it to EMI, the bank would service your request on proof of your purchase bill maybe, the service charges charged to the Jeans company.

    ReplyDelete
  3. coooooooool though the concept sounds silly, its worth trying once ;-)

    EMI for jeans would surely mean a lot for college kids hain naa?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Gayathri,

    Its definitely worth trying once.
    Yeah it would help college kiddos. If they have an ICICI credit card for now. It seems later the company plans to tie up with other banks too. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Man!! Rs1500 or more for jeans. I am not a cave man, but some people spend only that much for living for three to four weeks! But ya, fashion is also important na. Hmmm... Speciality stuff always costs so much. I always think about this if I want to buy some outdoor gear. The prices are preposterous. Just like the price of middle range clothes are preposterous! I bought one armani jeans, for Rs 1500, and only because Rajesh somehow wooed my into that. My Rs 400 pants are way more comfortable. I got a cargo for like Rs 250 and I have used to for the whole of my North India trip. You could never imagine what all it had to go through! It is light weight, rugged and so comfortable. Unlike the Armani jeans, it does not rupture my you-know-what places while trekking. It is in ship shape. Well I could have easily spent Rs 2500 for the same thing if I went to some mid range showroom. Some times these expensive clothes are not that great an idea. Depends on the mind set of the person too I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Heiiya Gautam,

    Hope you had a pleasant flight.

    I understand your point. And I can also imagine how queer you would have felt when Rajesh wooed you into buying a pair of Armani for 1500 bucks. But that's the cheapest price for a decent branded jeans Dear. :-)

    Knowing you, you are not too keen on fashion, but there are people mad about latest fads, brand and all.

    You wouldn't mind spending 100s of dollars on camera and lens....so that's your interest. Let me take Rajesh again. He might feel spending so much money on a camera lens preposterous :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Noooooooooo!!!

    I just bought a pair frm them a month ago! }:-(

    and that too for more than 1500.. do they hv any piece which is cheaper than 1500?

    nice idea btw!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I mean if I look at my wardrobe, (ok they are a pile right now), I find that the range of the collection is there. As in kurtas, jeans, cargos, tee shirts, party shirts, jackets, suits, there are quite a few. But it is just that you need not spend too much money on these things and yet manage to have a decent collection. :-) Many of the foreigners with whom I travelled asked me the brand name and price of the cargo that I had. Was so quick drying and light. Worth the money spent. :-)
    If one is a little wise, can save a lot of money on clothes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. hii

    recession gives new ideas..sometimes funky ones :)

    i read today about a luxury bag renting service , soon to be started by kalyani chawla

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Abhi,

    Yessssssssssss!!! :-P

    I dont know if they have any piece cheaper than 1500 bucks. But this EMI option is for purchase of at least 1500 Rs. Have fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Gautam,

    Absolutely! I agree with you.
    With mix n match, one can do wonders having few collections as well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi AS,

    True, necessity is the mother of all inventions.

    I read about the luxury bag rental service too. Such concept exist in USA. Now, they are doing it here. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. wow !
    I wonder if it's akshay kumar's idea :P
    this kind of EMI schemes are awesome & I won't be surprised if a few Banks in a few years ..start giving suit loans too :P

    I am dieing to see this ad ,,lemme youtube it !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Peter,

    New ways of marketing you see..
    I haven't see the ad on TV yet. It came on print media and splashed in all malls in Bangalore though :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Why buy Rs. 1500 jeans?

    I can get upto 3 whole decent shirt pair pants in same amount :P

    Which is what I do, whatever be the economy!

    Wonder what kind of airheads love to be skinned thus for merely covering their skin.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Stupidosaur,

    You are a prudent man :-)
    Not everyone realizes it. Being up to date with latest fashion is a fad now and the sellers are taking advantage of this.

    ReplyDelete
  17. My Rs 500 a pair clothes are quite dandy too.

    And these days I am a Colgate man, not Prudent ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Heiyya Stupidosaur,

    Oops, I didn't mean to say clothes for Rs 500 are not excellent or first-rate.

    I only wanted to say about people's perception of attaching expensive branded labels with being first-rate. Its a different thing for them to walk into an exclusive branded store and pay 1500 bucks for the same piece of cloth available at 1/3 the price elsewhere.

    Ok, sincere apologies for changing your brand here. You are a Colgate man!!

    Talking about brand loyalty :-P

    ReplyDelete
  19. last line is gr888888888888tly funny as well as weird....lollzzz

    :)
    :D

    ReplyDelete
  20. Makk,

    :-D Thank you..Yeah weird and funny :-)

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to know what you thought :-) Please shoot!