How to Launch Your Dashain & Tihar Sale: A Festive E-commerce Checklist

Dashain and Tihar are not just festivals — they are the financial backbone of the year for most Nepali retailers. From new clothes and gadgets to gifts, sweets, and home upgrades, customers spend more in these few weeks than in any other season. If you sell online (or want to), this is the moment to get your store ready. The shops that prepare early capture the demand; the ones that scramble in the last week lose sales to stockouts, slow delivery, and broken checkout.

Here is a practical, Nepal-specific checklist to launch your festive sale — covering inventory, payments, offers, and delivery.

1. Plan Your Festive Inventory Early

Demand spikes fast and suppliers run dry, especially in Kathmandu wholesale markets and across imported goods. Decide your hero products now — the items you expect to sell most — and stock deeper on those.

• Forecast from last year: If you sold during last Dashain, look at what moved and reorder those categories first.
• Lock supplier timelines: Confirm restock dates before the festival rush. Many wholesalers pause during the long holidays.
• Tag festive bundles: Gift sets, hampers, and combo packs sell well as Tika gifts. Pre-pack them so fulfilment is fast.
• Separate fast and slow movers: Don't tie up cash in items that won't sell during the season.

Avoid the overselling trap

Nothing damages trust faster than confirming an order you can't fulfil. Keep your stock counts accurate across both your physical shop and online store so a sale in-store updates your website automatically. Saauzi connects your POS and online store on one dashboard, so when you sell at the counter, your online stock adjusts in real time — no double-selling during the busiest week of the year.

2. Get Your Payments Festival-Ready

During Dashain and Tihar, many customers prefer paying digitally — it's faster, and they're often shopping from their phones while travelling or busy at home. Make sure every payment path works.

• Enable eSewa and Khalti: These are the wallets most Nepali shoppers already use. Test a real transaction before the sale begins.
• Add bank transfer / connectIPS: Useful for higher-value purchases like electronics or furniture.
• Keep Cash on Delivery (COD): COD is still trusted across much of Nepal, especially outside major cities. Offer it — but consider asking for a small advance on expensive items to reduce fake or abandoned orders.

Always display prices clearly in NPR, and state whether VAT is included. If you are VAT-registered, show your PAN/VAT number on invoices and your store footer — it builds credibility and keeps you compliant when customers ask for a billing invoice.

3. Design Offers That Actually Drive Sales

A discount alone isn't a strategy. The best festive offers create urgency and increase order value.

1. Time-bound deals: "Ghatasthapana to Dashami" or "Tihar 5-day special" gives a clear deadline that pushes customers to buy now.
2. Tiered discounts: Spend Rs. 3,000 get 10% off, spend Rs. 5,000 get 15%. This lifts your average basket size.
3. Free delivery threshold: "Free delivery above Rs. 2,000" is one of the strongest motivators in Nepali e-commerce.
4. Gift-with-purchase: A small free item feels generous and costs less than a deep discount.
5. Festive bundles: Package related items together at a slight discount — easier to ship and higher value per order.

Be honest with pricing

Don't inflate prices and then "discount" them back. Nepali shoppers compare across pages and Facebook groups quickly, and a fake markdown will cost you repeat customers. Genuine value wins loyalty that outlasts the festival.

4. Prepare Delivery and Logistics

Festive delivery is where many stores stumble. Roads are busier, couriers are overloaded, and customers expect their order before Tika. Set expectations clearly.

• Confirm courier capacity: Talk to your delivery partner about peak-season timelines for both inside and outside the Valley.
• Show realistic delivery dates: Display "Order by [date] for delivery before Dashain" prominently. Under-promise and over-deliver.
• Plan for COD returns: Have a process for refused or undelivered COD orders so cash and stock aren't stuck.
• Pack for the rush: Pre-print labels and keep packaging materials stocked. A jam at the packing table slows everything down.

5. Get Your Store and Marketing Ready

Once stock, payments, and delivery are sorted, make sure customers can actually find and trust your store.

• Add a festive banner: A simple Dashain/Tihar banner with your offer signals "we're open and ready."
• Write clear product details: Sizes, materials, colours, and real photos reduce questions and returns.
• Show a contact number and Viber/WhatsApp: Many Nepali buyers want to confirm before paying. Quick replies close sales.
• Promote where your customers are: Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok drive most discovery in Nepal. Post your offer early and repeat it as the festival nears.
• Test checkout on mobile: Most festive traffic is on phones. Walk through the full buy-and-pay flow yourself.

Quick Pre-Launch Checklist

• Inventory: Hero products stocked, bundles packed, stock counts accurate
• Payments: eSewa, Khalti, bank, and COD tested and live
• Pricing: NPR shown clearly, VAT/PAN displayed if registered
• Offers: Time-bound, with a free-delivery threshold
• Delivery: Courier confirmed, cut-off dates shown
• Store: Festive banner up, mobile checkout tested, contact visible

Your Takeaway

Don't wait for Ghatasthapana to get organised. This week, do three things: lock in your hero-product stock with your supplier, test every payment method including COD, and publish one clear, time-bound festive offer with a free-delivery threshold. Those three steps alone put you ahead of most stores — and let you turn Nepal's biggest shopping season into your biggest sales month. Subha Dashain and Happy Tihar to your business.