The SLASH Festival, (Sri Lanka Shopping Festival), was officially launched at a glamorous event at the Cinnamon Grand on November 1st.  SLASH is a fortnight festival of discounts and value-driven shopping, entertainment, dining, culture and fashion, to be conducted in key locations in cities across the country, including Colombo, during the run-up to the Avurudhu season.

Leading to the shopping season, February is among the busiest months of the year for malls, second only to Christmas and the month of Avurudu itself.

Organised by Foxhouze, the strongest placed in the market today to network all the key shopping malls of Sri Lanka and other organised retail formats, this festival will feature a large selection of retailers and offer unbeatable discounts, ranging from upwards of 15%.

Scheduled to be held in February 2015, Foxhouze along with its key partners is gearing up to make SLASH the most exciting, inclusive, and anticipated shopping festival in the country.

SLASH is essentially a big sales and discount bonanza to drive customer interest and sales to the key shopping areas of Sri Lanka. Shopping malls and shopping arcades will form the central focus areas of the festival, which will be further supported by large format retailers and multi-store retailers.

Active participation from retailers in the locations will be driven with discounts and value-added offers, complemented by an exciting events calendar through the fortnight across multiple locations.

The SLASH Festival will also incorporate a huge element of festivity, fun, games and competitions driven actively by online digital media, social media, radio and print, in addition to on-location activations to keep consumer interest alive.

Some of the proposed locations will include Majestic City and Crescat Boulevard in Colombo; Kandy City Centre in Kandy, K Zone in Jaela and K Zone in Moratuwa along with Ceylon Theatres. Other proposed locations include Independence Arcade, Race Course, Dutch Hospital, large format retailers, other cinemas and supermarkets.

Sectors that will be featured at the SLASH Festival are fashion, sports, electronics, mobile phones, entertainment, lifestyle, home, beauty, healthcare and wellness, gem and jewellery, bookstores, grocery, beauty products, household items, restaurants, food, hospitality and hotels, ensuring a wide cross-section of products and services.

The festival aims to increase customer traffic into retail areas multi-fold, attract hundreds of thousands of additional shoppers across multiple locations, create tens of millions of rupees of additional business/day average for retailers in addition to immense value for shoppers and provide enormous business leveraging opportunities and competitive advantage to sponsors.

The shopping festival will be supported by a strong entertainment and events calendar, including augmented reality stations, Western, Sri Lankan and Indian dance troupes, premium fashion showcase events in multiple locations, international cultural shows, singers, music bands, street entertainers, DJs, radio channels and live music, special performances and acts, competitions, and prizes.

With great discounts and offers from the retailers, walk-ins and shopping activities are expected to increase tremendously, while additional promotions are also being planned through key radio stations and print relevant to the target group, in addition to aggressive digital online, outdoor media, and live streaming promotions.

The strong digital media promotions internationally are targeted towards showcasing and promoting the tourism sector.

With its long experience in retail and fashion, and an in-depth understanding of shopping and+ retail environments, Foxhouze is well positioned to maximise the benefits of a large format countrywide shopping festival to all its participants, further enhanced by its position as the leading retail media management company in the country, along with a strong in-house content production house and digital media agency.

Retailers interested in participating in the festival may contact the organisers via email on Slashfestival@foxhouze.com and via telephone on 0719091010 or 0755637411.

Photo caption: Kaushalya Wickramasinghe, Brand Ambassador; Stephanie Siriwardhana, Brand Ambassador; Fowzi Kandrikar, Festival Director, and Sashini Iddamalgoda, Festival Co-coordinator at the SLASH Shopping Festival launch at Cinnamon Grand