Festival season fail to light up apparel sales, consumer durables shine

The Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) has pegged the growth this festive season at 20 per cent

Sales of apparel were a mixed bag this festive season while those of consumer durables saw an uptick with mobiles, laptops, and air conditioners being in demand.

In apparel, Tier-2 and -3 markets did better for some brands, because these have been witnessing an uptick for the past 18-20 months compared to metros.

“The past two weeks have been good, and we saw a 13 per cent increase in value sales, and volume sales have also been similar,” Manish Kapoor, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), Pepe Jeans, told Business Standard.

Tier-2 and -3 cities have done well and premiumisation there has driven demand. Also, growth has continued even after the festival season for the denim brand.

Celio, men’s wear brand, saw growth picking up after the festival season because cities where the temperature has dropped have witnessed an increase in sales.

“During the Diwali period, sales were in single digits this year. It did not meet expectations. Some pockets suffered, like the north and west (barring Gujarat). The south and east markets did well,” said Satyen Momaya, CEO, Celio India.

In consumer durables, sales were in double digits and for some even ahead of expectations as mid to premium products witnessed an uptick.

The Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) has pegged the growth rate this festival season at 20 per cent.

“This festival season, the mid and premium segments did well. Television sales were up also due to the World Cup. The industry was expecting a good Diwali this year and it is happy,” said Eric Braganza, president, CEAMA.

Daikin India saw higher than expected sales this year. It had earlier estimated sales to be 12-15 per cent higher than last year, but they were up 15-20 per cent.

“The April-June season wasn’t good for us this year due to unseasonal weather conditions, but we have now seen a recovery in sales with it being higher than our estimates,” said Kanwaljeet Jawa, MD and CEO, Daikin India.

Vijay Sales said while overall sales were up 15 per cent over the festival season last year, it saw particularly high sales across air conditioners, mobiles, and laptops.

All three categories saw sales increase 35-40 per cent this festival season.

However, the consumer durables retailer saw single-digit sales in television and refrigerator sales.

“Overall the turnover was good this festival season. Sales of digital items were higher than those of other categories, while washing-machine sales were flat,” said Nilesh Gupta, MD, Vijay Sales.