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Offline retailers see 30-50% rise in pre-Diwali sales

October 24, 2016

Malls are also seeing good growth in footfalls and consumption

Despite the massive discounts and advertising push by e-commerce portals, many brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing a 30-50 per cent jump in pre-Diwali sales.

“We’re seeing very good numbers, which are better than last year’s. Customers have realised that physical stores offer better deals than online stores,” said Rakesh Biyani, joint managing director, Future Retail.

Although Biyani did not comment on numbers, a company source said it witnessed 40 per cent growth in pre-Diwali sales over the weekend. Biyani said the home, general merchandise and electronics segments witnessed good business. Notably, Future Group’s electronics chain, eZone, has a 20 per cent cashback offer on purchases.

Vasant Kumar, executive director at the Landmark group’s fashion chain, Max, said there had been 15 per cent growth in pre-Diwali sales. “But, 10 days up to Diwali will make good for this. We expect a 50 per cent jump in sales.”

According to Kumar, pre-Diwali sales have been truncated to 10 days in the past couple of years. “We are better when it comes to latest collection, designs and styles.”

Ritesh Ghosal, chief marketing officer of Infiniti Retail, which runs electronics and durables chain Croma, said it has seen a 30 per cent growth during pre-Diwali sales so far. “Vis-a-vis last year, we have seen a six per cent increase in footfall.”

Malls are also seeing good growth in footfall and consumption.

Pushpa Bector, executive vice-president and head of malls at DLF, said the company expects the trading per square foot and sales to increase by 20-25 per cent. “From four months of festive season, we expect around Rs 500 crore and a total of Rs 1,400-crore sales. While on an average the monthly footfall is 1.3 million, during the festive season it increases to 1.8 million.”

Rajendra Kalkar, president (west region) at Phoenix Mills, which owns malls in Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru said, “We are high-strung this Diwali. We’re expecting a minimum 30-40 per cent growth in both consumption and footfall. Last year, we saw  growth of 20 per cent.”

According to Kalkar, with many international fashion brands entering the country, people have a lot of options to choose from.

“Additionally, the good monsoon and the Seventh Pay Commission will definitely fuel growth this festive season. The per-capita customer spends this festive season are expected to go up substantially.”

Mukesh Kumar, senior vice-president at Infinity Malls, is of the opinion that e-commerce has dented brick-n-mortar sales initially. “Pre-Diwali sales are picking up slowly,” he noted.

He said the footfall at the Lower Parel mall has grew 40 per cent y-o-y over the weekend. A spokesman for Inorbit Malls said the footfalls grew nine per cent over the pre-diwali weekend.
 
According to Kalkar, with many international fashion brands entering the country, people have a lot of options to choose from. “Additionally, the good monsoon and the Seventh Pay Commission will definitely fuel growth this festive season. The per-capita customer spends this festive season are expected to go up substantially.”

Mukesh Kumar, senior vice-president at Infinity Malls, is of the opinion that e-commerce has dented brick-n-mortar sales initially. “Pre-Diwali sales are picking up slowly,” he noted.

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