Sales dip forces early discounts
Discount season generally begins in the third week of January and ends in mid-February. However, retailers have started offering heavy discounts ranging from 25% to 60% by end December.
An executive at Future Group’s Central says early discounts indicate a disappointing sales period.
“The focus is to increase sales. Once we get the desired sales number, margins will not be a problem. Since consumer sentiments are just picking up, one needs to give additional incentives,” he said.
Last year too, companies extended their discount season, but witnessed a tepid increase in sales, even as margins were hit 5% on an average.
However, most retailers made up for this slowdown in sales with a higher growth of 12-15% in November and December.
Discounts offered this time are mostly on apparel as companies are trying to reduce inventory. International brands like Zara, FCUK, Pepe Jeans, Wrangler are offering discounts between 20-50% on merchandise. Sports lifestyle brands — Puma and Adidas — are also offering discounts of up to 40%.
Future Group’s lifestyle retail format Central is offering discounts up to 51% on its collections, while Reliance Trends is offering a discount of up to 60% on its merchandise since December 22. Westside started offering discounts up to 60% from December 28. This will extend till February 3.
“This year, we are already seeing
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