As per a survey by the Retailers Association of India, the festival season helped sales of appliances, apparel and packaged food and grocery in November, but total sales remained 13 per cent lower year-on-year.

The 10th edition of RAI’s survey was conducted among 68 retailers during November. The findings pointed to a steady month-on-month recovery in retail businesses across India even as sales in November fell 13 per cent on year.

The survey covered categories such as electronics, quick service restaurants, food and grocery, apparel and footwear, among others.

Retailers are moving towards 2021 with cautious optimism, said RAI, especially amid reports of the new strain of coronavirus in the UK along with night curfews and restrictions in India.

For the full year, several retail categories are expected to report a decline in business. The industry is hopeful of achieving about 85 per cent of pre-pandemic level business only in the next six months, RAI said in its statement.

November was marked by Diwali festivities and also coincided with the wedding season. Consumer durables and electronics category continued to recover with a sales growth of 12 per cent (y-o-y) while food and grocery retailers too indicated growth of 5 per cent, as per the survey.

Apparel and clothing retailers have remained under pressure with sales declining by 12 per cent. In October, apparel and clothing sales declined by 30 per cent year-on-year. QSR sales declined by 25 per cent in November compared to a year ago period, while that of beauty and personal care retailers fell by 29 per cent during the period. The category had reported a 55 per cent dip in sales in October.

The total income of Page Industries decreased to Rs 744.0 crore in Q2 of FY21 that ended on September 30, 2020, compared to the income of Rs 781.1 crore recorded during the same period previous year. The company’s net income for the period declined to Rs 110.8 crore from Rs 114.5 crore in Q2 FY20. As per reports, the company continued to witness uncertain demand during the quarter due to COVID-19. However, it was able to adapt and respond well during this pandemic and deliver good growth during the unpredictable times, said Sunder Genomal, Managing Director.

The company’s total expenses declined to Rs 598.1 crore during the quarter from Rs 649.1 crore. Its profit before tax was Rs 145.9 crore as against Rs 132.0 crore recorded during the corresponding quarter last year.

Page Industries is an Indian manufacturer and retailer of innerwear, loungewear and socks. It is the licensee of Jockey International in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. In 2011, it licensed Speedo swimwear from Pentland Group. The company was founded in 1994 by Sunder Genomal and his brothers. It is based out of Bangalore, and has manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru, Hassan, Mysore, Tiptur, Gauribidanur and Tiruppur.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) plans to launch its e-commerce marketplace that will feature around 700-800 products. KVIC has products currently listed across 58 categories selling groceries, footwear, apparel, herbal medicines, spices, and more. It launched the beta portal in August and now rolls it out completely on January 1 or 2. Currently, it is being managed by KVIC itself while the new marketplace will be operated by a franchisee.

The e-commerce marketplace is expected to cross Rs 2 crore turnover by end of the current financial year 2020-21 with khadi masks, khadi fabric, and honey being the top-selling product products. The launch comes around KVIC’s recent crackdown on fake khadi products being sold on e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and others as claimed by the commission. It had said in September that it forced such marketplaces to remove more than 160 web links selling products in the brand name of Khadi.

KVIC had stated then that it had sent legal notices to more than 1,000 firms using Khadi India brand name to sell fake products and “thus causing damage to its reputation and the loss of work to Khadi artisans,” according to its statement. The action had also led to shutting down of multiple retail stores selling fake khadi products.

The North American lifestyle and performance Footwear Company, Skechers opened its largest Indian store in Thane.

The new outlet has an open-air design with no closed spaces that offers a hygienic and safer shopping ambience to the shoppers and an amazing retail experience.

The company pulled off the brave decision of opening a grand store in such uncertain times and is a great evidence of the brand’s strong customer base and store design which is appropriate in these times.

Skechers is an American performance and lifestyle footwear company which provides a range of top-notch products for men, women and children. It was founded in the year 1992 by Robert Greenberg who sensed that there was a high demand for stylish casual street shoes among the young and fashionable.

Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, the company now provides thousands of styles designed and developed by its in-house team. The brand entered India in 2012 with an aim to expand its business.

After dismal formal and occasion wear sales, Indian retailers are now relying on upcoming summer collections to revive business to 2019 levels. As per the November report of India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), retailers expect a 40-45 per cent decline in FY21 revenues. They are entering the next year with a lot of caution, a better digital presence and moderate inventories, says a Live Mint report. They plan to buy things nearer to the season, adds Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI).

Sales recovery to benefit value and online retailers

Rajagopalan says, retailers expect business to recover 70 to 80 per cent next year as compared to 2019. ICICI Securities analysts expect value and online retailers to be better placed next years. They expect apparel retail companies to witness gradual demand recovery by mid CY21. After a sharp 40 per cent year-on-year decline in CY20, revenues of apparel retailers may inch towards CY19-levels in CY21, say the analysts in their December report. They also expect offline sales to recover by 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels.

Apparel, footwear and accessories retailer Lifestyle expects business to recover by around 90-95 per cent by summer of 2021. The retailer plans to add fresh new stock every month besides placing orders for its summer collection. Their summer season was a complete washout as it could not register any sales during the two-and-half months. However, the retailer shifted some of its summer stock into winter and was able to register sales in some categories. The retailer now aims to make a fresh start with a completely new stock month, says Rishi Vasudev, Chief Executive Officer.

Expansion policies to continue in 2021

The pandemic forced most retailers to cut back on their festive and winter wear orders and liquidate their summer inventory. Retailers also had to shut some of their loss-making stores, defer their expansion plans and re-negotiate their rents. Some of these policies will continue to be followed in 2021, especially by brands using digital mediums, says Rajgopalan.

Looking at optimistic demand during the recent festive season, retailers have already started purchases for S/S’21 collections, inform analysts at ICICI Securities. This year, the brand has been more conservative in its purchases and bought lesser inventory now. It plans to fill in stock as the season approaches.

Fashion e-commerce marketplace Voonik’s net profit jumped 264 per cent in FY20 to Rs 28.90 crore, according to regulatory filing sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. Revenues increased 109 per cent from Rs 21.45 crore to Rs 44.76 crore during the said period. The company was able to cross the bottom-line milestone due to a continuous decline in expenses.

Since FY17, Voonik has cut expenses by 93 per cent and 59 per cent from FY19 to Rs 15.99 crore in FY20. Expenses declined from Rs 247 crore in FY17 to Rs 113 crore in FY18 and further by a significant margin to Rs 39 crore in FY19. The majority chunk of expenses included Rs 5 crore in employee benefit expenses, Rs 3.82 crore for purchases of stock in trade, Rs 3.16 crore in legal professional charges, Rs 1.1 crore in transportation distribution expenses, and Rs 59.3 lakh ad promotional expenses.

As per an analysis by the Redseer Consulting, India’s online fashion segment is expected to grow from $4.8 billion in GMV in FY19 to $19 billion in FY24 amid a majority share of 54 per cent cornered by the apparel segment followed by 26 per cent coming from the footwear vertical and 20 per cent from accessories. The private label brands have been able to make fashion more affordable for customers and it has led to more traction on platforms like Myntra and others.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has urged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take necessary action on allegations of malpractices made by traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders against e-commerce firms Flipkart and Amazon. CAIT has accused Flipkart of violating FDI policies related to its deal with Aditya Birla Group; It has accused Amazon of violating Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) rules.

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT, said, the traders’ body will make efforts in 2021 to clean up the e-commerce landscape of the country and end an era of manipulations, malpractices and exploitation. It will promote and encourage traders across the country to adopt digital commerce and digital payments as new instruments to widen business in India.

Amazon and Flipkart were issued notices in October by the Consumer Affairs Ministry for not displaying the mandatory declarations, including ‘country of origin’ which digital platforms ought to follow as prescribed under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. They were asked to furnish details about the sellers and necessary incorporation documents along with names and residential addresses of persons responsible for the conduct including the respective police jurisdiction under which they reside.

Myntra recorded 51 per cent growth in traffic during the 13th edition of flagship End of Reason Sale (EORS) as the e-commerce company sold over 11 million items catering to more than 5 million orders. Myntra held the winter edition of EORS from December 20 to 24. The five-day event was attended by over 3.2 million shoppers and processed a record-breaking 19000 plus items per minute at peak.

Kids, beauty and personal care, home decor witnessed the highest growth at over 150 per cent year-on-year growth. Women's western wear, men's jeans and streetwear, women's ethnic, men's casual, and sports footwear were some of the most popular categories among shoppers. Among metros, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune topped the with hightest sale, while Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur, Dehradun, Ernakulam, Nashik topped the list of Tier II and III cities.

The year-end event also solidified Myntra’s partnership with brands as they left no stone unturned to reinvent themselves to provide the best shopping experience to customers, said Amar Nagaram, CEO, Myntra.

Local Jaipur exporters and their associations are stepping up efforts – at the individual level as well as government level to boost exports. As per Vimal Shah, President, Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (GEAR), exporters are trying their best to become eco-friendly and follow sustainability. As per an Apparel Resources report, exporters have also urged the state government to support the development of green textile park in the state to ensure the usage of recycled yarn and every possible aspect of the green supply chain. Dinesh Gupta, CEO, Sekawati Impex, foresees good expansion plans in the next two years. The company’s currently focuses on GOTS-certified products now.

Jaipur’s apparel manufacturers and especially exporters have also urged the government to support for the establishment of a research or development centre where one can avail live demo of all kinds of available technology. Timely release of refund, clearing subsidies and ease of doing business should be top priority of Government says Aseem Singla, Director, Fashion Images Overseas which caters to the buyers of Japan as well as Australia.

Exporters are also focusing more on home products. As far as specific products are concerned, tunics still dominate the domestic industry and are expected to remain so in the near future also as from last few years. Anuj Mundra, CMD, Nandani Creation, who owns the platform www.jaipurkurti.com and has seen three times growth in the last few months as far as the online sales are concerned.