Kochi: Adding another first to Kerala’s long list of unique achievements, all the media companies in the state have decided to come together and create a new shopping season: the Great Kerala Shopping Utsav. This unprecedented initiative with all the media houses of the state coming together aims to boost the efforts to rebuild Kerala that suffered huge financial damage from the flood in August.
The proceeds of the festival will go to the corpus of funds for rebuilding the flood-ravaged Kerala. The Great Kerala Shopping Utsav will start on November 15 and close on December 16.
Lucky shoppers get to win prizes worth Rs 4 crore, ranging from a flat worth Rs 1 crore to more than 750 daily prizes, including gift vouchers, gift hampers and appliances.
"As shopping spurs economic activity, this is the best way to rebuild Kerala, which witnessed floods in August" says the press release released at the press conference in this connection, "We need to change the sentiments of the people to positive and festive feelings. Nothing like a shopping festival to achieve that."
GKSU and its objectives
The media companies in Kerala will use all the media vehicles to make the shopping festival a grand success, and hope that this will give yet another opportunity for Malayalis to enjoy the festive offers. This will also surely help the business at large, as well as help the government of Kerala increase its tax revenues.
More than anything, the organizers say, the shopping event is intended to convey a message to the whole world that it is business as usual in Kerala.
The festival also aims to bring the cheer back to everyone who missed out on festive season offers during Onam in August, which got mostly overshadowed by the flood and its tragic consequences on the lives of the people. Top retailers and brands across the country are expected to come out with attractive offers during this period.
The government, along with Kudumbashree, is facilitating a bank loan of Rs 1 lakh per person to those who have been affected by the floods. This is primarily to buy goods that have been lost during the floods. An amount close to Rs 1,000 crore is expected to come into Kerala market.
GKSU will work with the media houses who will provide advertisement space worth Rs 25 crore in all the media platforms free of cost to promote GKSU.
The highlight of GKSU will be a mega raffle hosted by the media companies for the shoppers of GKSU. Every person who makes a purchase of Rs 1,000 and more during the period of GKSU from GST registered establishments can participate in the raffle, by sending a copy of the bill via WhatsApp to a specific number which will be announced soon. The response message will contain a form to be filled with details like name, address, mobile number, bill number and amount. Lucky winners will be picked on a daily basis and can win prizes such as home appliances, gift cards, gift vouchers and gift hampers. The mega prize at the end of the raffle will be a flat worth Rs 1 crore.
GKSU Logo Release
GKSU logo was released by the Malayalam actor Mammootty. While releasing the logo, he lauded the initiative and efforts taken by the media fraternity to revive the Kerala market.
The press conference in this connection was attended by BK Unnikrishna, PR Satheesh, Varghese Chandy, PS Kamal Krishnan, Raghu Ramachandran and Sateesh Kumar Dhan represengig different media organizations.
The Indian Newspaper Society (INS), Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI), Kerala Merchants Chamber of Commerce, Dealers Association of TV and Appliances (DATA), The Supermarkets Association of Kerala, and Retailers' Association of India have extended their support to this initiative.