Fashion retailers such as Myntra and Ajio are offering as much as 70-90% discount during their ongoing end of season sales as the pressure to clear inventory amid a discretionary slowdown. The two retailers began their end of season sales around May 30-31, which will conclude next week (June 9-10).While Myntra, part of the Flipkart group, is expecting 20 million potential visits during its End of Reason Sale (EORS) and some 1.35 million new customers during the sale period, Ajio is promoting its Big Bold Sale aggressively across platforms including print, TV and digital.

Both retailers, say experts, are going head to head with their flagship sale events, which are being preponed for the second year in a row by a month. Amazon Fashion’s Wardrobe Refresh Sale is also currently underway, and concludes on June 5. Tata CLiQ’s The Big CLiQ Sale wrapped up last week.

EORS features over 3 million products across fashion, beauty and lifestyle from over 8,800 national, international and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. The Big Bold Sale also features over 2-3 million products across segments such as fashion, beauty and lifestyle.Retail companies such as Trent, which runs Zara and Westside stores, and Shopper’s Stop may start their end of season sales towards the end of June, which has been the industry trend, say experts. Shopper’s Stop and Trent were not immediately available for comment.“A sale season may give a short-term boost to turnover, but there is a wider slowdown in the market,” says Harminder Sahni, founder and MD, Wazir Advisors.

“The propensity to bargain hunt has grown as consumers look to rein in discretionary spends. And whoever starts the sale period first has an advantage in such a market,” he says.He attributes this consumer behaviour to financial uncertainty, and the need to save rather than spend money on items that are non-essential. This point was also made by one of the country’s top apparel companies, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), during its earnings call last week. The company said that market conditions remained largely unchanged in the January-March period from previous quarters with continued sluggishness in discretionary spending. Analysts indicate that a long election season and a strong heat wave contributed to weak sales during the April-May period too.“Small towns remain more affected in terms of a discretionary slowdown. The apparel market at an overall level, however, has been challenged due to a consumption slowdown,” Jagdish Bajaj, chief financial officer, ABFRL, said.

Ajio and Myntra seem to reading the signs too, saying that there will be new launches, exciting rewards and happy hours for those shopping on their platforms during the sale period. Both companies are using technological innovations to provide a neat and clean shopping experience, tutorials on the best looks of the season and how to achieve it, backed by influencer videos.

“Shoppers will be able to unlock unprecedented value across premium and international brands, giving a boost to fashion in India,” said Sharon Pais, chief business officer, Myntra.The Flipkart-backed company said its vast network of delivery partners would cater to 19,000 pin codes, ensuring smooth and effective delivery to customers during EORS. Under this model, Myntra will also efficiently utilise all its Forward Distribution Centres (FDCs) for a smoother, hassle-free delivery process during and after EORS.