What slowdown, asks Kishore Biyani

The consumer wants to enjoy small joys of life, even if he is deferring spending on big-ticket items: Biyani

A good monsoon and an election year ahead will help retailers tide over the economic slowdown, believes Kishore Biyani, founder of the Future Group.

“The consumer wants to enjoy small joys of life, even if he is deferring spending on big-ticket items. That’s why we are seeing double-digit same-store sales growth,” Biyani said at the India Retail Forum 2013 in Mumbai.
“In our Central format, we are seeing 20 per cent same-store sales growth.”

On the Reserve Bank of India’s plan to increase interest rates and clamp on interest-free schemes, he said: “Consumers will not stop spending just because rates have gone up or zero per cent-schemes have stopped.”

He said the new Big Bazaar Direct venture might become a larger success than his present flagship Big Bazaar stores. Big Bazaar Direct is a franchisee-based model, where the franchisees will visit consumers and take orders, to be delivered in three-seven days..