Cracker sellers offer valet, card services

Speaking about the trend, Dinesh Kumar, senior sales staff at Shri Rajendran Fireworks tells us, “A big chunk of our customers prefer using their debit cards or credit cards to purchase firecrackers. And it seemed only imperative that we ensured that we had these payment gateways in place.”

In fact, several major supermarkets and high-end neighbourhood provision stores in the city have latched onto the bandwagon and are now turning resellers of firecrackers this season. N Kumaresan, a fireworks reseller based out of Velachery tells us, “We have tied up with a commercial parking lot in this area as we knew many customers pass by this route. We have put one of our staff members on standby duty to assist in valet parking, to ensure that the vehicles of the customers do not add to the traffic congestion in the city.”

N Naresh, the manager at a supermarket in Tiruvanmiyur tells us, “We realised it was a win-win situation for us to sell fireworks at our locations. This time around, we have firecrackers named after TV shows such as Game of Thrones and even mobile games such as Clash of Clans and Temple Run, which are very popular among children.”