Retailers expect a robust festive season as sales rise

Shashank Pathak, Centre Director and Executive Director, WestEnd Mall, expects to see a robust festival season with Made in India products being the flavor of the season. He says 95 per cent of the permissible brands have reopened and around 40 per cent customers have returned to these malls. Though currently, people are focusing on their essential needs, the condition is improving by the day, he said.

Pathak says, no trial and no exchange policy followed by most of the brands did not deter people from buying. His mall’s first bill was for Rs 15,000 and last one was for Rs 15,000 and people were spending 1.5 to 1.6 times more than usual.. The beauty and cosmetics saw 154 per cent growth in sales.

The Phoenix Mall in Pune, too, was buzzing during the Independence Day weekend with serious buyers and footfall fast converting to sales. The Croma and Reliance Digital stores had people lining up waiting for their turn to buy. Laptops, LED TVs, microwave, refrigerators and electric kettle were moving off the shelves, said Arun Arora, Centre Director, Phoenix Marketcity Pune,

The Amanora Mall witnessed 18,000 footfall and significant sales during the Independence Day weekend. The sale of electronics dominated with high demand for mobile phones and laptops followed by casual wear and white goods. The demand for white goods, too, was higher with dishwashers and washing machines among the top buys, said Surjit Singh Rajpurohit, CEO.

Koushik Marathe, Director, Fashionking Brands, which has a network of 100 outlets selling formal clothes for men, said they had their worst ever time in the last four months. Though the demand for formal clothes has not returned, they did see some buying during Rakshabhandhan and Independence Day.

These retailers expect F&B and entertainment services to resume after the 10-day Ganesh festival by August end.