BOGO is the latest buzzword in the Indian retail business. Acronym for "buy one and get one free", retailers across the country have resorted to it to push sales in a sluggish pre-festival season market.

Apparels company Mohan Clothings has introduced BOGO for the first time at its retail stores. At Greenways, a retail store in New Delhi's Connaught Place, if you by a Banarsi saree, you will get another one for only Rs 11; and if you by a crepe saree, another one can be yours for only Re 1.

Those who haven't embraced BOGO are offering un-heared-of discounts. Thus, you can avail of discounts of 70 percent on brands like Unistyle Image and Bizarre. Bata has floated the "pay less get more" scheme whereby the discount rises with each purchase made by the customer.

Through this is the time for pre-festive season discounts, retailers say this year the discounts have touched a new peak. As against 40-50 per cent in the past, this time the price tags have been slashed by 70 per cent on average.

But have the discounts helped? Says Ebony Holdings chief operations officer H S Kohli: "Our topline has increased about three times." Visits to the company's outlets have more than doubled during the sale.

More important, gone are the days of a plain vanilla discount. Every retailer is coming up with innovative discount schemes. "All of us have to find the right fit to exist and thus we have to innovate even the discounts being offered," B S Nagesh, managing director and chief executive officer, Shoppers Stop Ltd, told Business Standard.

Ebony and the Shoppers Stop are creating excitement amongst the customers by offering free gifts, discounts in short spells on specific sections, and even additional discounts on the net bill to enthuse the customer to buy up to a certain amount. Others like Morepenowned Lifespring chain of health and beauty stores plans to offer value-added and innovative promotions for its customers like experts and health and beauty workshop free of charge. Also, the duration of the discount sales has also increased this year as against 15-20 days in the past. Such sales are on for over a month now.

"There is a possibility of those discounts being offered around the year on specific products and sections," says KSA Technopak associate director Harminder Sahni.