Discounts over the long weekend range from 15 per cent to 50 per cent as retailers look to bring in fresh merchandise after the sales season ends on Monday.
Retail chain Lifestyle has seen a strong end-of-season sale especially in January.
“We saw double-digit sales in January and this momentum is expected to continue over the Republic Day weekend,” Devarajan Iyer, executive director (ED) and chief executive officer (CEO) at Lifestyle told Business Standard.
Iyer pointed out that it saw sales surge as the wedding season picks up in February. This pushed customers to shop in January. The retail chain is running a discount of up to 50 per cent.
“We expect to match or cross the Rs 4.5-crore sales figure we recorded on Republic Day last year. The sales momentum was low and the weather was also hot. But this year, that is not the case. On top of that, with an extra day making it a long weekend, we expect people to come out in larger numbers,” said Akhil Jain, managing director (MD) and CEO at Jain Amar, which owns brands like Madame and Camla Barcelona.
The company is offering a flat 50 per cent discount on winter merchandise. “We have also launched the new spring/summer collection and expect decent growth in that as people come into the stores,” he added.
However, Mohanlal Sons a north India-based ethnic wear retail chain, with some presence in the south, said demand for ethnic wear has not been strong in December and January.
“We are running a Republic Day sale on the entire stock. Fresh stock is selling at 15 per cent discount and the previous season’s stock is going at 50 per cent discount. We expect sales momentum to pick up over the next three days compared to the demand we saw earlier in the month,” said Mayank Mohanlal, partner and CEO at Mohanlal Sons.
Mohanlal added that while demand has been under pressure in the north, its stores in the south fared better.
However, some industry executives pointed out that with new sales occasions like Black Friday becoming more prominent, momentum during R-Day sales is starting to slow down.
“It used to be a big occasion a few years ago, but newer occasions have started to come up. We have seen that before Black Friday, people actually hold-off shopping to make the most of that occasion. That is not the case during R-Day sales anymore and people are only willing to make purchases if the discounts are very steep,” said an industry executive.
Long weekend boost
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As Republic Day falls on a Monday, making it a long weekend, retailers expect customers to throng stores
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Discounts over the weekend range from 15% and can go up to 50%
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Some brands are offering discounts on their entire stock
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Some industry executives say momentum during R-Day sales is slowing down as other events like Black Friday become more prominent
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