For most retailers, sales growth could be between 50% and 250% due to the weak base amid a severe second wave of the pandemic in the country a year earlier.
While footfall remained below pre-Covid levels in the June quarter, price increases and larger purchases boosted sales for marketers, analysts and retailers said.
“Consumer sentiment has turned positive due to the overall vaccination campaigns, easing of restrictions, healthy manufacturing industries and the opening of offices across the country,” said Jayen Naik, vice president. Principal of Operations and Projects at Nexus Malls, Indian retail platform of US investment giant Blackstone Group. “Ticket sizes per person have increased since we reopened,” he added.
According to the Retailers Association of India (RAI), sales momentum continued to hold with revenue growth of 23% and 24% in April and May, respectively, compared to the pre-Covid 2019 level. 15-20% price increase, especially in the clothing segment, over the past year.
“Selling in the April to June quarter was almost 120% of the pre-Covid level,” said Pushpa Bector, executive director of Retail which operates several malls in the National Capital Region (NCR). . “This is the best quarter since the Covid outbreak. July should be better as many retailers have delayed the end of season sale (EOSS).” EOSS used to start in mid-June, but as many retailers were reporting good sales at full price, they postponed sales this year, Bector said.
This is also reflected in the quarterly performance figures. For instance,
in its update to investors, sales rose 207% in its jewelry business while the watches and apparel segment grew 158%.
Leading developer and operator of shopping centers
said total consumption increased by 121% in the last quarter, despite the impact on June consumption of the EOSS delay, large areas being renovated and storage problems faced by a large hypermarket .
“Retail is back in full force and we’re seeing phenomenal growth across all of our formats,” Anuraag Srivastava, group chief financial officer at Phoenix Mills, told a recent Kotak Securities conference.
“Obviously India has put Covid on the back burner and all are now trying to return to a normal way of life and some amount of wealth that has accrued over the last 24 months of staying at home or working at home is now available for expenses.” The apparel segment was badly hit during the pandemic and was the slowest to recover in the consumer discretionary space.
