Retailers Anxious About Sales In Run-Up To Festive Season

With the festive season also coinciding with the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, an uptick in sales of TV sets is expected during the October–December quarter, according to Avneet Singh Marwah, chief executive officer of Super Plastronics Pvt., the brand licensee of brands like Thomson, Kodak and Blaupunkt.

“We expect at least a 50% increase in sales of televisions in the 40-inch segment and above and a 100% growth in sales of 55-inch TV sets compared to last year,” Marwah said, indicating that the festive season is unlikely to reverse the mass demand slowdown unless inflation cools.

Consumers’ willingness to spend on apparel is also subdued, said Rahul Mehta, chief mentor at the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India, which represents over 20,000 apparel makers and retailers in the country.

But that doesn’t mean this festive season will turn out to be historically bad. “We are hopeful of a 10–12% growth over last year as we expect consumer sentiment to improve at the peak of the festive season,” Mehta said.

India’s festive season—starting from Onam, covering Ganesh Chaturthi, and peaking around Durga Puja and Diwali—accounts for 40% of the annual sales for companies in sectors like apparel, home decor, white goods, electronics, and packaged goods mainly snacks and confectionary.

Discretionary spending has been under pressure since last Diwali. Some recovery in August during the Independence Day weekend and Raksha Bandhan brought cheers, but it failed to sustain, according to retailers.

The spending on the furniture category has not drastically increased yet, said Elena Pogosova, country commercial manager at Ikea India.

However, the Swedish furniture retailer is seeing “growing” interest and spending in the bedroom and living categories. Customers are more inclined to spend in these categories during the festive season, she said.