Retail players on a patriotic high

Online, offline firms hope to cash in on last major discount sale this festive season

Online and offline Republic Day sales could collectively reach ~1,500 crore as experts see demand picking up after demonetisation.

Online marketplaces Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, and brick and mortar players and mall owners have all organised sales, where the emphasis is on going cashless. During last year’s festive season, they ended up with $1.5 billion in sales or order value.

Republic Day sales are the last of the major discounts in the festive cycle in the retail industry.

Experts were anxious about footfalls at malls and high-street stores after demonetisation saw sales tumbling. Industry body Assocham estimates retailers will end up earning over ~1,500 crore this weekend.

“We had an Epic Sales weekend over January 20-22 as a lead-up to Republic Day. The Republic Day weekend is like the Thanksgiving weekend now, so brands put their best foot forward in terms of deals and services,” said Pushpa Bector, executive vice-president and head, DLF Premium Malls. She added demonetisation-specific sales by brands took place almost immediately after its announcement. This was designed to encourage the public to spend digitally. “We expect footfalls to grow 10 per cent this year over last year and overall sales to grow 12-14 per cent,” Bector said.

Future Group’s Big Bazaar, which organises major sales during the Republic Day week, is adding new services such as pre-booking at cash counters. “Customers have to pay ~100 online to book a slot for cashing out. This is returned when they pay for the goods. We have also stepped up downloads of the Future Pay app and are doing a lot of home delivery,” said Sadashiv Nayak, chief executive officer, Big Bazaar.

According to experts, discounts and a positive market sentiment are helping retailers get back on track.

“The markets started recovering by the end of November as organised retail was able to adopt various digital means of payments. Electronics and jewellery are the two sectors that are still recovering. The sales are providing an added boost, now everyone is waiting for the budget,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive officer, the Retailers Association of India.

The Amazon Great Indian Sale witnessed a surge in digital payments and people using the card-on-delivery option.

Amazon’s new customer acquisition rate matched the peak Diwali shopping season.