It's 'Diwali' for organised retailers

TNN / Nov 5, 2005, 01:34 IST

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New year began with a bang for retailers as thousands of shoppers thronged malls in the pre-Diwali weekend.

MUMBAI: The new year began with a bang for large organised retailers as thousands of shoppers thronged malls and stores in the pre-Diwali weekend, notching up record sales.
For Pantaloon, the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, came a few days early. "Nine of our stores recorded sales in crore each on Sunday, compared with one store last year," said its MD Kishore Biyani.And, cash tills rang late into the night at departmental store Shoppers' Stop.
"Overall revenues have risen by 30% this year, compared to same period last year," said Govind Shrikhande, COO, Shoppers' Stop. For Noel Tata's Westside department store, sales grew 40% over last year. But what's most astonishing, and a clear indicator of the resilient Indian shopper, is the Rs 1 crore business Shoppers' Stop, Delhi did on Saturday, the day after Delhi serial blasts.
In south India, mood was upbeat, with shoppers defying inclement weather. Says G Sankar, MD, Lifestyle International, "Diwali was stunning. In some of our key markets, we saw growth over 70%. Clothing and furniture were the key drivers of growth. Rains in Bangalore and Chennai during the Diwali week did not disrupt things too much. We had two brilliant weekends preceding Diwali day."

And as sales rose, so did average ticket size or money spent by an average shopper. At Big Bazaar, Pantaloon's popular hypermarket, it rose from Rs 540 last year to Rs 800. At Shoppers' Stop, it rose to Rs 1,500 compared to Rs 1,350 last year, with cameras, watches, pens and kitchen items being the largest sellers.
Premium brands also fared well. Says Darshan Mehta, president, Arvind Brands, which owns Arrow, Lee, Wrangler and Tommy Hilfiger among others, "Our Diwali retail sales grew between 32% and 55%, compared to last year. Footfalls grew about 50%."

Predictably, apparel, home fashion and gifts were the hottest selling items. While external factors like booming stock markets, higher disposable income or what economist Stephen Roach calls internal consumption dynamics played its part in driving sales. Retailers say this year they rolled out all stops to woo shoppers.
For Shoppers' Stop, it was something as simple as ensuring that clothes were available in every shape and size. "We decided that this year no one would walk out due to their size being unavailable," said Shrikhande. Pantaloon's Biyani added, "In addition to our aggressive promotions we offered attractive gifts on large purchases."
Also, helping things was the availability of easy money. Credit card companies aggressively pushed personal loans and there were attractive cash-back schemes on most credit cards.

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