From Mumbai to Ahmedabad and Delhi to Bengaluru, shopping centres and malls across the country, are crowded as people rush to make their Diwali purchases. Customers are buying everything from flowers to sweets, apparel and jewellery, small and large appliances, utensils and electronic items.
Yet, the trends at retail outlets, high streets and other popular shopping destinations are mixed. There is an unmistakable tinge of disappointment among smaller shop owners whose business this season has not really been brisk. Many have reported a drop in sales. It’s the larger, more organised retail players that are doing well.
Retailers such as Vijay Sales, Lifestyle, Kalyan Jewellers, Tanishq and Shoppers Stop said footfalls have been high with customers lured by festive offers, exchange schemes, new launches and easy financing. GST cuts are a sweetener, these retailers told FE.
Nilesh Gupta, director, Vijay Sales, a consumer durables retailer, said he couldn’t have asked for a better Diwali, adding a combination of income tax and GST cuts have seen consumers come back and shop.
“The momentum that began in Navratri and Dussehra has continued into Diwali. We’ve seen a 20-25% year-on-year (y-o-y) sales growth this Diwali weekend and we see this continuing through the Diwali week,” Gupta said.
Devarajan Iyer, CEO & ED, Lifestyle India, said sales growth over the weekend was around 12-18% more versus last year with both festive and wedding shoppers contributing to increase.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman, ED, Kalyan Jewellers, said the buying momentum during the weekend had been strong with 40% of shoppers being first-time customers. The Dhanteras muhurat, Kalyanaraman said, extended over Saturday and Sunday, with gold and silver coins seeing strong demand.
Shoppers Stop MD & CEO Kavindra Mishra said that festive demand was likely to increase during the Diwali week after a strong start during Navratri, Dussehra and in the run-up to Diwali.
At Ahmedabad’s Palladium Mall, consumers are in a festive mood. The sales manager of a consumer durables chain said that GST cuts on TVs, air conditioners and dishwashers — from 28% to 18% – had pushed up sales of these goods. Refrigerators, washing machines and other electronic items (laptops and mobile phones), which continue to attract 18% GST, were also seeing strong demand, as buyers sought to upgrade their products, he said.
However, a small apparel owner on Dadar’s Ranade Road doesn’t feel the same. “Yes, the crowds are strong, it being the Diwali weekend. But I haven’t seen as many sales conversions though inquiries are high,” said Shahid Idrisi, the third-generation shop owner of National Wear, a garment store. He hopes the wedding season, which begins from the middle of November, will be better.
Again, Nishit Patel, manager of a high-end, ethnic wear store at Gurukul Road, a popular high street in Ahmedabad, reports a 25% y-o-y drop in footfalls. “Our apparel range is priced between `5,000-15,000. Customer demand has fallen. We’ve had to provide 5-10% discounts on our goods,” he said.
The sales manager at a lifestyle store in Pacific Mall in Dwarka, Delhi reported a 20% drop in sales this festive season versus last year. “While we’re running multiple Diwali offers and will soon roll out our winter sales schemes, there’s been a dip in numbers this weekend compared to last weekend,” he said.
The manager at a clothing store at Forum Mall in South Bengaluru said that sales conversions during the festive season had fallen by 8-10%, though footfalls had improved by 4-5% y-o-y.
“Sales had dropped in the months building up to GST 2.0, as people were in wait and watch mode. Smartphones and electronics at large have seen a rebound post the GST 2.0 announcements, and this Diwali we are anticipating a 5-10% increase in sales, as compared to last year,” said the owner of an electronics retail store on Brigade Road, Bengaluru.
Kolkata’s shopping season has been marred by relentless rains through September and October. At a consumer durables outlet in one of the city’s leading malls, sales of large appliances have been better than last year, aided by GST cuts, but an extended monsoon season has impacted categories like cooling appliances. “The start of the season was slower because of the rain, though sales have now picked up,” the store manager said.