Value retailer V2 Retail on Friday joined peer V-Mart Retail to report strong revenue and same-store sales growth (SSG) in the September quarter (Q2FY26) coming on the back of GS-fueled festive buying.
Strong Q2 metrics signal demand revival in smaller cities
V2 Retail reported an 86% year-on-year revenue growth and a 23.4% SSG in Q2, thanks to festivals such as Durga Puja and Navratri, the retailer said in its latest business update released Friday. If Durga Puja sales are excluded, since the festival was celebrated in Q2 rather than Q3, SSG is still 10.3% for the period, V2 Retail said, driven by resilient consumer demand, limited markdowns and disciplined inventory management.
Sell-through rates were also high in the quarter, led by data-based assortment curation, it said. Both V2 Retail and V-Mart primarily target consumers in tier 2 and 3 cities, pointing to a pick-up in demand in small centres after months of a retail slowdown, sector experts said.
On Wednesday, V-Mart Retail said that it saw a 22% year-on-year revenue growth and SSG of 11% in Q2, driven by festive buying, according to its business update for the period. The growth was driven equally by its flagship V-Mart stores and Unlimited outlets, the latter are targeted at families.
Shares of V-Mart Retail closed trade 16.43% up on the BSE on Friday to Rs 844.20 a piece in response to its business update. Thursday was a holiday on account of Dusshera and Gandhi Jayanti. V2 Retail, meanwhile, closed trade 2.51% up on the BSE at Rs 2,221.30 apiece on Friday.
Aggressive store expansion
Analysts said that value retailers such as V-Mart and V2 Retail have been beneficiaries of the GST cuts in apparels. Clothing up to Rs 2,500 now attracts 5%, while garments above Rs 2,500 attracts 18% GST from 12% earlier.
Both V-Mart Retail and V2 Retail continued their expansion drive, opening 25 and 43 new stores each in Q2. V-Mart closed two under performing outlets in Q2, bringing its total store count to 533 as of 30 September, 2025. V2 Retail took its store count to 259 at the end of the September quarter.
V-Mart Retail said that the new stores included five in Karnataka, four each in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two each in West Bengal and Jharkhand, and one each in Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra.
The Q2 performance of the two companies builds on their performance in the first quarter of FY26, when V-Mart and V2 Retail reported a 12.6% and 52% year-on-year rise each in revenue to Rs 885 crore and Rs 632 crore respectively, supported by a modest 1% and 5% SSG. Expansion remained a key lever then too, with 15 and 28 new stores added in the June quarter respectively. The retailers closed 1 (V2 Retail) and 2 stores (V-Mart) each in Q1.