Manufacturers of shoes, bags and stationery products have witnessed a robust sales growth as a vast majority of students have resumed physical classes after a long Covid-induced hiatus.
Sellers of school shoes, bags, backpacks and stationery items saw a huge surge in demands in the month of June for their products in metros and non-metro cities.
“The back-to-school season is often viewed as the second-biggest season for the retail sector. For parents, shopping will be unavoidable since the vast majority of students are now heading back to a physical classroom setting after two years of remote and hybrid learning,” Utkrishta Kumar, CXO-Business, Meesho, told FE.
The e-commerce platform said its Office & Stationery category registered a 37% month-on-month growth in June, 2022. Sellers on this platform have seen a surge in orders for bags, backpacks, exercise books, pencil cases, geometry sets, lunch boxes and water bottles. “Bags and backpacks witnessed a mammoth rise in sales by 71% while lunch boxes and water bottles experienced a 66% growth trajectory,” Kumar informed. The company have seen maximum customers from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
Footwear major Bata India has seen higher sales in the school shoe business in states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and West Bengal, among others, where school are reopening. “With the reopening of schools, offices and economy post Covid third wave, School & Formal shoes have witnessed a robust growth in the first half of the calendar year,” said Bata India CEO Gunjan Shah.
Shah said footwear business is cyclical and different states experience sales growth throughout the year. These triggers vary from regional new years, festivals, monsoon, school and colleges reopening, spring and summer onset, weddings and others which lead to demands for the company’s different categories like sneakers, fashion, formals, casuals and essentials. “There are slight variations, however, we are seeing overall rebound in the business all-India,” Shah added.
Khadim India Ltd, the second largest retail footwear brand, has witnessed an uptick in the sales of school footwear since the announcement of schools resuming physical classes in the new session on 2022. The company’s sales growth in the school shoes category has been almost 30%, putting all channels together in comparison to its pre-Covid sales.
“We prepared well in advanced, started our production ahead of time and took all possible measures to meet the demand of the consumers…We are well stocked up to meet any demand in the coming months,” said Namrata A Chotrani, CEO, Khadim India. The company has witnessed almost equal demands in metros and non-metro cities.
Schools and colleges had completely switched to offline classes for almost two years after the closure of physical classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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