Demonetisation: e-invite trending this wedding season in Ludhiana, card sales drop
Demonetisation has fostered the trend of e-invitations during the on-going wedding season in the city and has lead to a drastic decline in the sales of conventional card shops.
Demonetisation has fostered the trend of e-invitations during the on-going wedding season in the city and has lead to a drastic decline in the sales of conventional card shops.
Although, the trend of e-invitations is not new to the denizens but, this year, for many families, it’s their first attempt to send invitations electronically, especially those who are particular about not indulging in any excessive or unnecessary expenditure.
“Since there are so many regulations on withdrawing money from banks at present that you can’t think of spending like quintessential Ludhianavis on the weddings. We did plan to order fancy invitation cards but, we gave up the idea to save money and instead placed a limited order for about 50-60 cards and rest we’ll send electronically. Honestly, this has saved a considerable amount of money that we can now spend on other wedding needs,”said Paramjit Kaur, a housewife from BRS Nagar.
Her son, Gurpreet Singh, added, “You could also ask the card shops to design an electronic invitation for you or you could simply scan or click picture of the printed card to send it online to relatives and friends.”
Yuvraj Singh from Dugri whose wedding is in early January underlined that by sending e-invitations, he has realised that besides saving money it is also environment friendly. “When we go for printed cards, we are in a way promoting de-forestation but with e-invitations, we save trees. Thanks to demonetisation that made many families in the city like us, choose a better way of sending invitations. I also feel that, if we all adopt this practice during every wedding season, we can certainly discourage deforestation to a great extent,”said Singh.
Amanjot Kaur of Sarabha Nagar, who will tie the knot in December, shared that her family was bewildered as how to arrange the cash for wedding functions and were looking for solutions to save money. As she gave the idea of e-invitations, her family instantly gave it a green signal.
“Seeing my family worried reminded me of one of my friends who sent e-invitations on her wedding last year which I suggested to them and we quickly finalised it. So, we are just getting 30-35 cards printed and will be distributing sweets to the guests on their departure post wedding,”said Kaur.
CARDS SHOPS REELING UNDER LOSSES
When the HT team interacted with owners and representatives of invitation card shops, while expressing their views they painted a sad story. “Our customer base has declined post demonetisation and clients that we are getting, prefer to place a small order and are avoiding the expensive collection of invites,”said Paramjit Singh, a card designer and salesman from one of the card shops who avoided naming the shop.
Similarly, another representative from a card shop at Fountain Chowk, where most of the card shops are based said, “Even our NRI clients who had sent us enquiries for printing cards, either cancelled orders or they reduced the number of cards being printed. Generally, these months are very hectic for us but this year it seems as if, the wedding season has not commenced yet.”
Kawaljit Saini from Rinkle cards at Fountain Chowk echoed that many in this wedding season are opting for e-invitations, besides playing limited order for cards, there is a demand to design cards exclusively for e-invitations.