Kolkata, Dec 26 (IANS) While onion prices are bringing tears in the eyes of customers, a computer accessories outlet in Kolkata is giving away the bulb as freebies to romp up its sales.

Talking about the innovative marketing strategy, Tushar Ranka, the shop owner, said: "We are offering a kg of onion for every cartridge refill and two kilos of onion for every new cartridge purchased."

Asked how the idea came about, Ranka told IANS: "On special occasions like Christmas and New Year we usually offer gifts like pen drives, perfumes etc to our customers. But this year since the onion prices were very high we decided to offer it as a gift."

"We took feedback from our customers about the offer and their response was very encouraging. A bulk of our customers is from the middle class and they were very excited about the offer."

Ever since the offer, the sales of the store has shot up. "December usually is a lean period but after we came up with the offer the business has gone up by around 30 percent. We now have a daily average of 40 odd customers as against the usual 25," said Ranka.

Candid about the motive behind the idea, Ranka said: "The sole motive was to attract customers and not to make any statement against price rise".