Apparel retailers likely to offer huge discounts after lifting of lockdown

Apparel retailers are expected to offer large-scale discounts to clear old stocks and also perk up consumer sentiments once the lockdown is lifted, according to industry players.

A series of lockdowns around the world has severely impacted the fashion retail ecosystem as stores all over the world shuttered, resulting in cancellations of late Summer and Autumn merchandise and a build-up of unsold Summer 2020 within the business, they said.

Benetton India Managing Director and CEO Sundeep Chugh told PTI that although "there is certainly no specific discounting strategy post lockdown, as a brand we would want to uplift the sentiments of our consumers through a welcome-back strategy encapsulating season specific offers and engagements at our stores".

Chugh further said,"We anticipate the lockdown would be lifted by/during mid-season, and that's the time when generally mid-season offers prevail and we would mostly align with the same as per the market ecosystem."
As for his company, Bogra said,"Forever New has very swiftly and actively managed its inventory but we expect to be discounting our older merchandise and running exciting promotions on our more recently launched lines, once the malls re-open, in the months of May and June/July."
He further said,"The Autumn-Winter collection will be launched as planned by September but we foresee that promotional offers will continue on select merchandise well into December."
When contacted a Raymond spokesperson said,"As the current situation is highly unpredictable, we have to wait and see how things unfold in the coming weeks. The month of May might witness some consumer promos as brands will try to make up for the lost sales. We do expect an early onset of end of season sales akin to what happened during GST implementation in the country."