Fashion laggards may spoil East's retail party

Will indifferent sceptics spoil the retail party in the city and the region? A recent study seems to indicate that going by psychographic profile, the number of indifferent sceptics, the group who are least affected by trends, peer and the onslaught of the brand brigade and are fashion and retail laggards when it comes to adopting new trends amounts to 46 per cent from the eastern region including Kolkata's contribution to the national figure of 16.5 per cent from the SEC A and B classification.

This study on the Indian household expenses - Consumer Outlook 2005 spend has been done for the sixth year in succession by KSA Technopak comprising a sample size of 10,000 people across 20 cities in the socio-economic classification of SEC A and B, studied during the months from December to March every year. It is a priced publication at Rs 85,000.

However the heartening news for retailers and mall developers is that for the number of first time adopters, the figures from the east stand at 23 per cent out of a national average of 36.3 per cent.

The city of joy it seems has also emerged as the city of dining, the restaurant business is on a high as with a national spending average of 6.8 per cent on dining out, the city leads the pack with the highest average in the country of 10.8 per cent.

While the national trend seems that expenditure on grocery, apparel and footwear has been scaled down but the spending on grocery for the city stands at 28.1 per cent while national figure is 27.5 per cent.

The Bengali film industry maybe flush with new found success with corporate funding, the theatre producers are trying to infuse fresh life with more organised production and festivals, the mushrooming of multiplexes and the national award boost but Kolkata has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to spending on entertainment while the national average is at 1.9 per cent, the city's expenditure stands at a low of 0.8 per cent.

Consumer durables expenditure stand at 2.8 per cent in the city while the country spends 4.1 per cent of its disposable income (keeping aside certain fixed costs) on the durables.

Though there is a resurgence of information technology in the region, the city is behind with 0.6 per cent expenditure on computers while the national spending on the same is at 1.4 per cent. The internet connection expenditure in the city is at 0.1 per cent while the national figure is 0.4 per cent.

When it comes to mobile technology, it seems that Kolkattans are ahead of the country with spending on mobile phones nationally is at 2 per cent and the city is ahead by 0.5 per cent.

Compared to the 2003-04 figures, the average Indian household which was spending close to 21 per cent on household help now spends 24.2 per cent inspite of the advent of various products and amenities for easing domestic chores. Kolkata is no exception with 22.1 per cent expenditure on domestic help.

The percentage of average Indian domestic savings have gone down to 4 per cent currently from 12 per cent in 1999.

Despite the 'threat' from indifferent sceptics the study reveals that for 60 to 65 per cent brands have a major role to play in their lives.

"Certain important national insights are that despite the evolution of organised retail in the country colony markets are still very important which is also proved by the scaling down of expenditure on grocery, apparel and footwear,"said Saloni Nangia, associate director, KSA Technopak.

The boom in the emerging products category has now stabilised with the increase of the base, Nangia pointed out.

The study was done with questionnaires by interviewing the chief wage earner of the given households once they met the survey criteria.