Shoppers Stop same store growth dips 3%

Lifestyle retailer Shoppers Stop Ltd, which runs department stores and speciality formats, saw a 3 per cent dip in same store growth in the fourth quarter of last fiscal, in sharp contrast to the 20 per cent growth it had witnessed in the corresponding quarter of 2008, as people spent less on discretionary items, like apparel, to save cash in the downturn.

Shoppers Stop department stores also saw footfalls coming down by 15 per cent in Q4 of FY09, as customers stayed away from retail stores in the backdrop of security scare and overall economic slowdown.

“A combination of issues such as security concerns, jobs losses and economic downturn has led to the fall in like for like sales. We expect this to continue in the Q1 and the next quarter,’’ said Govind Shrikhande, chief executive of Shoppers Stop, in an analyst conference call on Monday.

However, the conversion ratio (entry to sales) has gone up from 26 per cent in Q4 of FY08 to 30 per cent in Q4 of FY09.

Apart from department stores under Shoppers Stop name, the company runs speciality format stores such as Home Stop, Crossword, Mothercare, MAC, Clinique & Estee Lauder, among others. Same store sales, a common metric in the retail industry, compares sales of stores that have been in the business for a year or more.

However, in food and groceries, the company saw a same store growth of 9-12 per cent, indicating buyont shopper interest in the basic categories.

Analysts said the retailers in premium products have seen the major impact during the downturn.