Bihumarketing ideas

Assam Tourism says Rongali Bihu falls in April, is the first day of the Assamese New Year and marks the start of the farming season. The Assam government's festivals page says the first day is Goru Bihu, when cattle are bathed and given new ropes. The second day is Manuh Bihu, the first day of the new year. People wear new clothes, visit friends and relatives with food and gifts, and give close relatives and friends handwoven scarves called gamucha.

Each custom is a shopping need: new clothes and handloom, gifts, sweets and food, and music for the celebrations. Assam Tourism names the dhol, pepa and gogona. In our experience, home goods and larger purchases are also planned around the holidays, which run for three days in the 2026 state list.

Magh or Bhogali Bihu: the food festival

The Assam government's page calls Magh Bihu the festival of food. It marks the end of the harvest. The eve, called Uruka, is a night of feasting around a bonfire. The next morning, families burn a meji and share a traditional breakfast of chira, akhoi, glutinous rice, curd and jaggery, along with pithas. So grocers, sweet makers, caterers and restaurants lead this season. Assam Tourism also mentions fish served with newly harvested rice.

Kati or Kongali Bihu: the quiet one

Both official pages say Kati Bihu is more sombre than the other two. Assam Tourism says it involves no merrymaking or feasting. People light earthen lamps in the paddy fields and near the tulsi plant, and pray for a good harvest. Do not run a loud sale around it. A short, warm greeting is enough. Farm and household suppliers can offer useful, low-key help.

Who decides, and when they start

At home, the family decides together on clothes, food and gifts. Buyers start weeks before Bohag. They compare, save and ask relatives. By the last week, the work is stock and delivery.

The market behind the festival

Assam has more handloom workers than any other state. The Ministry of Textiles' brief on the Handloom Census 2019-20 counts 12,83,881 handloom workers in Assam, made up of 11,07,428 weavers and 1,76,453 allied workers. India's total is 35.22 lakh. This is a count of people in the trade. It does not measure Bihu sales, but it shows how big the handloom craft is behind gifts like the gamucha.

Assam Tourism also notes a large Bihu performance at Sarusajai Stadium on 13 April 2023, with 11,304 dancers and drummers. Public events like this show how big the celebration is in the state. Families who live outside Assam may also look for Assamese products during Bihu.

• Use Assamese for: greetings, shop boards and banners, in-store signs, WhatsApp messages to local buyers, local radio and print, and festival offers aimed at families.
• English is fine for: business-to-business messages, product specifications, legal and delivery terms, and sellers who write to Assamese families living in other cities.
• Have a native speaker write and check it. Festival greetings and food names have local spellings and tone. A literal translation can sound stiff or wrong.
• Ask about your area. Other languages are also used in parts of Assam. Ask local staff and customers which language your buyers want, and offer more than one when you are unsure.
• Check the type on a phone. Make sure Assamese script displays properly on common phones and in your ad tools before you spend.
• Do not borrow national copy. A harvest-festival greeting written for another state names the wrong festival. Each Bihu has its own words and its own mood.

Keep the English plain too. A reader on a phone in a small town should understand every line the first time.

• Weeks 8 to 6 before: Fix the goal and the budget. Choose hero products. Order stock, including fresh items from trusted suppliers. Brief the language partner. Plan photos.
• Weeks 6 to 4 before: Finish offers and their reasons. Write copy in Assamese. Update your Google Business Profile. Set up WhatsApp lists with permission and a way to track orders.
• Weeks 4 to 2 before: Go live with teasers. Send early-bird offers to past buyers. Put up boards in Assamese. Start ads. Publish the last order date for each area.
• The last 2 weeks: Push gifts and food. Check stock daily. Reply fast. Add staff for the counter and for delivery.
• Festival days: Keep greetings short and warm. Keep delivery and support running. Do not push a hard sale on the main days.
• After the festival: Thank buyers. Clear leftover stock honestly. Ask for reviews. Record the numbers and what you will change next year.

The three Bihus need different plans. Bohag is the big campaign. Magh is a food-led campaign, with pre-orders for feast items. Kati is a quiet greeting and useful service, with no sale push.

• New-season collections with simple price ranges and honest descriptions of how each piece is made.
• Gift sets for relatives and friends, with a handwoven scarf as the centrepiece where it fits.
• Clear alteration and delivery dates, with the holidays marked.

Grocers, sweet makers and food sellers

• Festival bundles with rice, jaggery, curd and other basics in one pack, at a clear price.
• Pitha and food pre-orders with a cut-off date, so you can plan production.
• A WhatsApp festival list that buyers can tick and send back.

Restaurants and caterers

• Feast boxes and family meals for Magh Bihu, with a clear pack size and cut-off time.
• Pre-booked tables and group menus for the Bohag holidays.
• Delivery slots by area and a clear note on holiday timings.

Music, dance and event businesses

• Sound, lighting and stage hire for Bihu functions, with clear packages and dates.
• Dance and instrument classes with a short Bihu course before the season.
• Short videos that show your work. Take the performers' permission.

Electronics, home goods and vehicles

• Festival offers with the reason stated, such as an exchange or season clearance.
• Clear delivery and installation dates, with holidays marked.
• Written terms for exchange and warranty.

Farm and household suppliers

• Useful, low-key help around Kati Bihu, such as advice and stock for the farming season.
• Small packs and clear pricing for village buyers.
• Help for dealers who serve villages. See our rural marketing service and our rural marketing guide.

Sellers who serve Assamese families elsewhere

• Festival gifts and food items with a last order date based on shipping time.
• Clear notes on what can be shipped. Ask your courier and a CA or export adviser. We state no shipping rule here.
• Greetings and product names in the language the family uses.

• The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Code, chapter I (dated 10 July 2025), says claims of verifiable fact must be capable of substantiation. Ads must not mislead by implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggeration. A claim that cloth is handwoven, or that a food is made with a certain ingredient, is a claim of fact. Keep proof.
• The Central Consumer Protection Authority's Dark Patterns Guidelines, 2023 apply to platforms, advertisers and sellers. They define false urgency as falsely stating or implying urgency or scarcity to mislead a user. Saying stock is more limited than it is falls under it.
• A 2026 amendment to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, announced by PIB on 10 September 2026, says a price cut must show the reduced price and the prior price. The prior price is the lowest price in the 30 days before. PIB says it comes into force on 1 January 2027, so it will apply to Magh Bihu and Bohag Bihu 2027 sales by e-commerce entities. Ask a lawyer how it applies to you.

Our Diwali marketing ideas guide has the same rules in more detail.

It spends ₹30,000 on boards, packaging, photos, the language partner's time and a small ad test. It wins 150 gift-set orders. Each leaves ₹300 after costs. That is ₹45,000 in margin. Cost per order is ₹30,000 divided by 150, which is ₹200. The return is (₹45,000 minus ₹30,000) divided by ₹30,000, which is 50 percent.

It notes that 80 orders came from WhatsApp, 60 from the shop and 10 from ads. It writes down that the smallest gift set sold out first, so it will make more of it next year.