New Delhi: A long Christmas weekend may have led to a spike in footfall at malls, retailers, and food outlets, but the festive cheer failed to spread evenly across consumption categories, industry executives said.
Many consumers made use of the long weekend to go on short outstation trips, while others stepped out to watch star-studded movies, but spending on categories such as apparel and food ordering was muted, mirroring caution among customers.
The assessment comes on the back of retailers of electronics, apparel and makers of packaged consumer goods reporting subdued demand during the October-November festive season as consumers spent with caution. While several companies did report a demand surge on Christmas, others said the weakness in consumption spilled into December, reflecting stress among households in general.
“Last weekend, we saw a spike in footfall and it was in line with the previous year, or maybe slightly better. Consumption, I think, is more or less flat or maybe a little higher than last year so far. At the mall level, we are still seeing growth but within the categories there is some realignment. When I look at our mall, it is still showing growth—maybe 5% to 6% over the previous year. However, this growth is not broad-based. Apparel seems to be more flattish, winter sales started a little early. I think the direction of spending has changed and may become normal next year,” said Rajneesh Mahajan, CEO, Inorbit Malls.
Consumers were seen thronging malls and hill stations over the Christmas weekend in what companies said is a clear trend of households spending more on experiences. Families are also stepping out in droves, despite a recent uptick in covid-19 cases. December also saw large-ticket film releases such as Animal and Dunki that helped drive footfall in cinemas and malls.
Muralikrishnan, CMO and co-founder, Wow! Momos, said that while business picked up on Christmas, demand was dull for the rest of December.
“Overall, consumption has been pretty slow. This can be attributed to inflation. Wage increment has not been able to match up. Intercity travel has also impacted the food sector. However, on big days, business was very strong,” he added.
Footfall in malls has been good, but below expectations, Pushpa Bector, senior executive director, head of luxury and shopping malls, DLF Retail, said.
“We have seen a growth of 9% to 12% (this December) over last year. Brands have declared early discounts as winter has been weak so far this year. In fact, sales have picked up post-discounting. We expected a growth of over 15%,” she said.
Brands declared early end-of-season sales to boost demand for apparel. “We have seen like-to-like sales stabilize, as end-of-season sales started owing to changes in weather. Footfall in malls is amazing, but conversion on apparels is low compared with previous years. Average spend per customer is better. But overall season’s mark down (discount) is higher than previous years,” said Akhil Jain, executive director, Jain Amar, which retails a women’s fashion brand Madame.
Nexus Select Trust, which operates a portfolio of premium malls, however, said that demand for fashion and gadgets remained strong.
“The festival season has been fantastic. Beginning in October and continuing through November and December, we have recovered almost 130% of our revenues before the holidays, compared with 2019. We anticipate that fashion, jewellery, and gadgets will perform strongly this holiday season,” said Jayen Naik, chief operating officer, Nexus Select Trust. The company operates a portfolio of 17 grade-A malls with a gross leasable area of 9.9 million sq. ft spread across 14 cities in India. Naik expects a spike in footfall in the next two weeks.
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Published: 29 Dec 2023, 11:44 PM IST