Nagpur: With a week to go for Diwali, retailers say business is not back even to the pre-Covid levels despite the festive sales drive being launched. There is little hope of matching last year’s turnover. Apart from Covid, the stores have also been hit due to price war by online portals and a conservative stance by consumer loan companies, in wake of the current situation, traders said.
TOI talked to a cross section of outlets, from multi-brand stores to footpath vendors, business was down everywhere. Despite the reduced footfall, most people ignored distancing in the shops as well as on streets. Traders are pinning hopes on the coming week to make up the shortfall.
“In normal times, retailers begin booking their stock a month before the festival. This year only the pending orders that were not executed in January-February are being released. Payments are also down,” said Gopal Agrawal, president of Readymade Garments Wholesalers Association. This shows there is a poor demand at the retail stores, he said.
Ashok Kumar Gandhi of M/s A K Gandhi Group that deals in consumer durables and two-wheelers said, “festive rush has certainly pushed the business but the levels are much below last Diwali’s.”
Gandhi said it was seen this time the consumers are not relying much on finance companies. They are preferring to buy in cash instead, no matter if that reduces their budget “This is maybe due to the economic uncertainty that has followed Covid,” he explained.
Ajay Madam, who heads the Cloth Merchants Association, however, had a bullish outlook. “Consumers have withheld any major spending during the last six months. This has also led to substantial savings, which are expected to be spent during this festive season. Government servants are expected to have sizable disposable income,” he said.
At the malls, only a moderate rise in sales was reported. “The sales are up compared to the last month but consumers are still cautious. Footfall is not upto the expectations,” said manger of a multi-brand store in east Nagpur, refusing to be named. The source said consumers were preferring electronic gadgets like computers as against garments, maybe due to requirement of work from home.
“The discounts offered to online portals was passed on to retailers also a fortnight ago. But that was too late and has not helped in reviving sales,” said Karan Grover who runs a mobile shop in Sadar.
Manager of another mutli-brand store in west Nagpur said, “last year the same day we had clocked in a sale of over Rs 1 crore, it is less than a half that now.” A majority of the crowd was seen at the garment segment of the mall.
Footpath vendors also said the rush was not back yet. “There may be crowd on Sitabuldi main road but business is not even half of the earlier levels,” said Pramod Mishra of the Street Vendors’ Association. Consumers from centres within 100km used to come to Sitabuldi for festive buying. The influx has not begun yet due to Covid which has hampered the street vendors’ sale,” he said.