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Thanks to an upbeat festive season in the months of October and November, apparel retailers are anticipating improved like-to-like sales growth. Like-to-like growth refers to the increase in sales from same stores in comparative quarters.
For the last couple of quarters of this financial year, apparel retailers have been witnessing decent like-to-like growth, which should get a further boost thanks to the festive season. For instance, apparel retailers like Promart and Arvind, who peg a healthy average like-to-like growth of 10 per cent anticipate better numbers this festive season.
“Promart has seen a like to like sales growth of 10 per cent. The festive season usually brings in a positive impact on sales due to the positive consumer sentiment. Consumers are willing to increase their spending capacity as festivals usually bring about a very positive and reassuring feeling," says Punit Agarwal, CEO and Promoter, Promart Retail. The value retailer, which currently has over 85 stores, is planning to open 65 stores by March 2014.
Similarly, Arvind Ltd, which has been registering over 10 per cent like-to-like growth for its Megamart and The Arvind Store apart from other formats, is also hopeful for better sales this festive season. “In general the festive season sales have been better for us. We are hopeful of better like-to-like sales growth because of this,” says Jayesh Shah, director and CFO of Arvind Limited.
On their part, retailers have also been offering attractive discounts and other festival-specific schemes to attract customers.
"Such schemes have worked in our favour since customer response have been good. Diwali has been reasonably good for us and even our October sales were higher. Overall, we anticipate above average like-to-like sales growth," says Shantilal Kothari, CFO of Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited which owns brands like Killer, Integriti and Lawman and runs stores like K-Lounge across the country.
Despite offering discount 365 days a year, Promart too launched additional schemes this festive season. "To make Diwali even more special, we have launched a scheme of an additional 15 per cent discount on purchase of two products on one's bill," said Agarwal.
Moreover, in the recent past players like Arvind have invested in their brands and stores in terms of promotion that are expected to garner higher like-to-like sales growth too.
