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Dipti \n Jain, The Times of India<\/i><\/p>\n Dipti \n Jain, The Times of India<\/i><\/p>\n
New \n Delhi, October 25, 2012<\/i><\/p>\n
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After \n a sluggish start for retailers this year, even the festival season \n might not be a mood-lifter. With consumer spending still not encouraging, \n retailers are not as ambitious on their prospects this festive \n period as compared to the previous years even as they expect a \n pick up in sales. <\/p>\n
While most retailers that TOI spoke to said this quarter (October-December) \n sales would definitely be higher than the rest of the year, not \n many expect the increase to be same as during a typical October-December \n period. According to industry estimates, the retail sector has \n been reeling under the impact of steep price increases and a significant \n depreciation of the rupee. <\/p>\n
Growth in the industry has nearly halved between 2010-11 and \n 2011-12 , causing most retailers to aim for even lower growth \n targets this financial year, analysts said. While the luxury sector \n has performed relatively better, it is the mid to premium range \n of brands that have been worst hit. "Festival quarter has \n always been good but there is still a fair bit of slowness in \n the economy. Retailers will push very hard to revive some optimism \n ," said Mohit Bahl, partner , transaction services at KPMG \n India. <\/p>\n
Madura Garments-owned Louis Philippe, said while it was expecting \n around 20% growth this quarter, it is significantly lower than \n previous years. The brand, which is currently witnessing a 15% \n annual growth, said growth has declined from 50% in 2010-11 . \n Even last year, sales growth was in the range of 20%-25 %. "Raw \n material prices have gone up. Plus excise duties have increased \n and so imports are costlier . Even hiring is low in the industry \n so the sentiments are poor," said Jacob John, brand head, \n Louis Philippe. <\/p>\n
Having taken multiple price hikes in last one year, retailers \n said any further increase would not be possible either as it would \n further dent purchasing sentiment. The industry has seen a 20%-30 \n % increase in prices in the last one year. <\/p>\n
"Retailers are cautiously optimistic and are focusing \n on improving footfalls through promotions as well as margins by \n promoting higher priced and higher margin products. Expansion \n plans are more realistic ," said Devangshu Dutta, CEO, Third \n Eyesight, a specialist consulting firm. <\/b><\/p>\n
With the festival season setting in late this year, the window \n for raking in huge profits for retailers is smaller too. DLF Brands, \n which has the franchise rights for international brands like Claire’s \n , Alcott, Boggi, Sunglass Hut, said it has significantly ramped \n up its marketing and promotion activities this year to increase \n footfalls. "The reform measures announced by the government \n in the last few weeks will take time to show its benefits. So \n people are more cautious. Brands which have come up new might \n perform well, but those existing already will continue to feel \n the pinch," said Pradeep Bhanot, senior vice president (accessories), \n DLF Brands. <\/p>\n
Offering heavy discounts is not on the cards for most brands \n but retailers are looking at adding new range of low-priced products \n to increase footfalls. Adventure sports brand Woodland is planning \n to come up with "well-priced" products apart from offers \n for its loyal customers. The brand, which grew 30% last year, \n is expecting a 12-15 % same store growth for this quarter. "These \n three to four months are very important for us. We are tying up \n with a lot of advertisers to increase sales this season," \n Woodland India MD, Harkirat Singh said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dipti Jain, The Times of India New Delhi, October 25, 2012 After a sluggish start for retailers this year, even the festival season might not be a mood-lifter. With consumer spending still not encouraging, retailers are not as ambitious on their prospects this festive period as compared to the previous years even as they expect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\n