In-store sales back in vogue: Apparel retailers see record revenues in Q2

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Trent, Shoppers Stop, Arvind Lifestyle, and TCNS Clothing Company saw their revenues hitting an all-time high in the September quarter

Apparel and lifestyle retailers saw their cash registers ringing for the second consecutive quarter, aided by strong festival demand and the reopening of offices, as people thronged physical stores to shop after two years of the Covid pandemic.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Trent, Shoppers Stop, Arvind Lifestyle, and TCNS Clothing Co saw their revenues hitting an all-time high in the September quarter. Others witnessed their sales growing in double digits during the quarter.

“The September quarter saw the highest-ever quarterly revenue for the company at both standalone and consolidated levels. This was driven by an aggressive network expansion, a strong e-commerce performance, and new category expansion and by encouraging performance during EOSS (end of season sale) and early festive season,” Jagdish Bajaj, CFO of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, told investors after its results.

He said the strong comeback seen during the April-June quarter in the offline channel continued in the July-September quarter, indicating the return of the market to pre-Covid scenarios.

During the quarter, the company’s revenue hit a high of Rs 3,075 crore.

Trent also saw its sales hit an all-time high in the quarter as its retail store chain Westside witnessed like-for-like growth at 20 per cent.

“We have been a company that makes strategic bets/ business model choices, that in many cases involve standing away from the predominant and proximate market practices of the time. Completely own branded offerings, entirely direct-to-consumer reach, not discounting in season, and not advertising are all cases in point,” stated Noel N Tata, chairman at Trent, in an earnings release.

Shoppers Stop also saw its sales hit a high of Rs 1,013 crore in the September quarter.

“Customer sentiment was strong in Q2 and continues to be so in the Q3 (October-December) of this financial year,” said Venugopal G Nair, MD & CEO of Shoppers Stop, told analysts during a conference call.

He said: “The wardrobe reboot followed by an office reboot is making us one of the best destinations in our chosen segment. Our customer footfall both offline and online combined has surged significantly to an overall 40.8 million visits in the quarter that we're talking about, against 25.3 million visits in the corresponding quarter last year.”

Nair also said: “We also grew versus the pre-Covid period; our non-GAAP sales grew by 19 per cent and Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) grew by 55 per cent versus the pre-Covid period.”

TCNS Clothing Co also saw its sales hit an all-time high during the July-September quarter.

It said in its investor presentation that its offline channel witnessed growth of 60 per cent over last year. Its MBO (multi-brand outlets) business scaled up 2.7 times over the same period last year.

The company said it expects a strong recovery in all markets, barring the north.

Arvind Fashions saw its sales come in at an all-time high in the September quarter. It attributed strong sales to strong growth in MBO channel, which witnessed 100 per cent growth and saw like-to-like growth at 25 per cent.

“We remain excited about the growth momentum ahead,” said Shailesh Chaturvedi, MD & CEO of Arvind Fashions in a release.

Page Industries also reported its second-highest revenue ever. It also expects to see strong top-line and bottom-line growth ahead, as well. Despite the volatile macroeconomic environment, we remain very confident in our ability to further build on the progress made so far and continue to drive strong top- and bottom-line growth,” V S Ganesh, MD of Page Industries, told investors -- after announcing the company’s earnings -- on a conference call.