The Debt-ridden Vishal Retail is up for sale. As part of the Corporate Debt Restructuring Plan, the retailer's bankers have set a precondition of a strategic investor to be brought in by Vishal.
The current promoter, Mr Ram Chandra Agarwal holds 62% stake in the company. . The market cap is around 150 crores.
Vishal has been going through troubled times since the last one year. In an effort to consolidate, 20 stores were shut down in the last 6 months and currently Vishal has 170 stores over 110 cities with an employee strength of 8500. Over 60% of Vishal's revenues come from Lifestyle products - apparel and footwear while food takes up 25% and the rest from household and consumer electronic products.
There are 13 main lenders to the retailer with SBI leading the group with an exposure of 175 crores. Other big lenders are HDFC, UCO, LIC, HSBC etc.
It is believed that Vishal is in talks with 2 potential investors including a prominent retailer. The process of restructuring may see the exit of Mr Ram Agarwal completely from Vishal Retail.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
TOP BUSINESS SCHOOLS OF INDIA
The Top Ten B-Schools in India according the Business India Survey
1. Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad , Ahmedabad
2. Indian Institute of Management Bangalore , Bangalore
3. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta , Kolkata
4. Indian School of Business, Hydrabad
5. XLRI Jamshedpur , Jamshedpur
6. Indian Institute of Management Lucknow Lucknow
7. Management Development Institute Gurgaon
8. S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research Mumbai
9. Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad
10.Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai
Starting average salaries range from Rs 7.8Lacs ( Institute of Management Technology) to Rs 18 Lacs ( Indian School of Business.
Source : Business India
1. Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad , Ahmedabad
2. Indian Institute of Management Bangalore , Bangalore
3. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta , Kolkata
4. Indian School of Business, Hydrabad
5. XLRI Jamshedpur , Jamshedpur
6. Indian Institute of Management Lucknow Lucknow
7. Management Development Institute Gurgaon
8. S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research Mumbai
9. Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad
10.Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai
Starting average salaries range from Rs 7.8Lacs ( Institute of Management Technology) to Rs 18 Lacs ( Indian School of Business.
Source : Business India
Friday, October 16, 2009
RURAL INDIA BUYING FRENZY
Dhanteras day saw a buying frenzy in rural India. This came after almost 2 months of austerity and poor sentiments. Everything from Fridges, Televisions, appliances and kitchen items were lapped up by consumers.and shops remained open till late at night.
Besides the local ' Kirana Stores' organised retail too saw crowds thronging the retail outlets. In value terms, Consumer Durables were the major items that were picked up by consumers. In terms of numbers, it was kitchen utensils and other kitchen items that were much in demand.
It is estimated that organised retail saw a growth around 20% over the same day last year.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
DHANTERAS SHOPPING
The festival is Dhanteras which falls 2 days before Diwali is of special significance to retailers in India. This day is particularly auspicious for consumers to buy some items for the home and kitchen. The world 'Dhan signifies wealth and hence on this particular day , it is regarded as auspicious for women to buy some gold and utensils.
Retailers in India see sales peeking on this day when the average daily sales goes up ten fold. This is particularly so in the case of kitchen items, consumer durables and any household goods of steel.. Retailers specially stock up goods for Dhanteras and look forward to heavy sales.
There also are legends associated with Dhanteras, the most well known being that of Sanundramanthan, the name given to the churning of the ocean by gods and demons for getting amrit or nectar from the ocean. The result of the churning was the arrival of Dhanavantri, the physician of the Gods alongwith the jar of elexir. Since then the day came to be celebrated as the day of Dhanteras.
Retailers - Happy Selling
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
INNERWEAR MARKET IN INDIA
Some facts of the Lingerie market in India that could be of immense interest to retailers.
Innerwear Market Size ( in value ) : Rs 9500 crores
Size of the Apparel Market in India : Rs 128,380 crores
Women's Inner Wear : Rs 6,200 crores ( This is almost double the size of mens innerwear ).
35 to 45% of innerwear is branded.
With changing lifestyles, the market has shown 8% growth in value terms in 2008. The most discerning and demanding consumers are in the age group of 25 to 45.
Innerwear Market Size ( in value ) : Rs 9500 crores
Size of the Apparel Market in India : Rs 128,380 crores
Women's Inner Wear : Rs 6,200 crores ( This is almost double the size of mens innerwear ).
35 to 45% of innerwear is branded.
With changing lifestyles, the market has shown 8% growth in value terms in 2008. The most discerning and demanding consumers are in the age group of 25 to 45.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
STOCK SHRINKAGE
One problem that all retailers around the world face is Stock Shrinkage - loss of goods from employee theft, shop lifting and vendor fraud. In India, the problem is particularly acute with shrinkage accounting for 3.1% of total sales . This amounts to a colossal amount of $2.5 Billion ( Rs 122.5 Billion) per year ( source : The Global Theft Barometer 2008)
A huge 45 to 50 % of this stock shrinkage is on account of Employee theft, 30 to 35% is due to shoplifting by consumers and the balance being attributed to vendor fraud/administrative lapses etc.
Globally , the average figure for shrinkage is 1.34% of sales. India however has an abnormally high 3.1% of sales. Compare this to 1.48% of The United States and 1.3% of UK.
Some common measures taken by retailers are CC TV monitoring, frisking of employees etc. These however do not seem to be enough and major retailers in India have now come together to combat the menace of Shrinkage particularly employee theft. These include Reliance Retail, Future Group, Spencers and Aditya Birla retail who will share notes on employees found guilty of theft. The current practice is to dismiss employees caught stealing who however do not face problems getting employed by any other retailer as there is almost no system of cross reference from previous employers. The plan is to circulate a blacklist of defaulting employees to prevent them to be employed by others.
Hopefully this will bring down shrinkage to some extent.
A huge 45 to 50 % of this stock shrinkage is on account of Employee theft, 30 to 35% is due to shoplifting by consumers and the balance being attributed to vendor fraud/administrative lapses etc.
Globally , the average figure for shrinkage is 1.34% of sales. India however has an abnormally high 3.1% of sales. Compare this to 1.48% of The United States and 1.3% of UK.
Some common measures taken by retailers are CC TV monitoring, frisking of employees etc. These however do not seem to be enough and major retailers in India have now come together to combat the menace of Shrinkage particularly employee theft. These include Reliance Retail, Future Group, Spencers and Aditya Birla retail who will share notes on employees found guilty of theft. The current practice is to dismiss employees caught stealing who however do not face problems getting employed by any other retailer as there is almost no system of cross reference from previous employers. The plan is to circulate a blacklist of defaulting employees to prevent them to be employed by others.
Hopefully this will bring down shrinkage to some extent.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
LESS FESTIVAL SPENDING IN RURAL INDIA
There are clear indications that the farmer in rural India does not have the same kind of income that he had last year to spend on the festive occasion of Dhantheras and Diwali. The sentiment is highly visible amongst farmers. In a survey in Central India amongst farmers, most of them have indicated a shortfall of almost 30% in yield due the drought conditions in the early part of the Kharif season. This was further aggravated by unseasonal rains in the last few days which has not only delayed harvesting of crops but has also resulted in loss of crops.
Large farmers ( holding of above 25 acres) do not expect to spend less this Diwali , however small and medium farmers are certainly spending less this season. The greatest impact has been on the small farmer.
The heavy buying of consumer durables and other household products that happens during Dhantheras will also be subdued this year. In rural India, many consumers buy for the wedding season which follows Diwali during Dhantheras. However this year due to the delayed harvest and consequent delay in encashment of crops, this will be pushed back and buying will happen only in November and that too on a subdued note.
Retailers need to take note of this changed scenario.
Large farmers ( holding of above 25 acres) do not expect to spend less this Diwali , however small and medium farmers are certainly spending less this season. The greatest impact has been on the small farmer.
The heavy buying of consumer durables and other household products that happens during Dhantheras will also be subdued this year. In rural India, many consumers buy for the wedding season which follows Diwali during Dhantheras. However this year due to the delayed harvest and consequent delay in encashment of crops, this will be pushed back and buying will happen only in November and that too on a subdued note.
Retailers need to take note of this changed scenario.
Monday, October 5, 2009
ADHAR PLANS 200 OUTLETS IN RURAL INDIA
Adhar , formerly Godrej Adhar, now a joint venture of Future Group and Godrej Agrovet is going aggressive in rural markets with plans to expand to 200 outlets pan India from its existing 70 outlets. The retail chain plans to leverage the strength of the Godrej Brand with retail expertise of Future Group. The chain has also restructured its format and changed the look and feel of its outlets. The outlets now sport ' The world of Godrej ' section and ' Big Bazaar Best Deals ' section.. About 10 existing outlets have already been transformed to the new outlet and the balance are expected to be converted by the end of this year.
With this expansion of outlets, the retail scene in rural India is certainly hotting up and established players like Haryali can foresee some excitement in the otherwise dull rural retail sector.
With this expansion of outlets, the retail scene in rural India is certainly hotting up and established players like Haryali can foresee some excitement in the otherwise dull rural retail sector.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
11 THINGS WAL-MART HAS BANNED by ETHAN TREX
Saw this interesting article by Ethan Trex on Wal-Mart through Digg on Mental Floss and would like to share it with all my readers.
11 THINGS WAL-MART HAS BANNED by ETHAN TREX
Retail giant Wal-Mart is the world’s largest public company, and whether or not you’re a fan of shopping at the House that Sam Walton Built, you’ve got to admit that the store stocks just about everything. But not quite, though. There are a number of things that Wal-Mart has banned from its stores at some point. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
1. Barbie’s Pregnant Pal
In 2002 Wal-Mart cleared its shelves of Barbie’s pregnant friend, Midge. The doll, which featured a removable stomach complete with deliverable baby, was part of Mattel’s “Happy Family” set that also included her husband and son. However, customers complained about seeing pregnancy enter into Barbie’s universe, and Wal-Mart pulled all of the Happy Family sets from its stores.
2. This underwear
That’s right: panties that say, “Who needs credit cards…” on the front and “When you have Santa” on the rear. The undergarments started showing up in Wal-Mart’s juniors departments in December 2007 and quickly started an Internet firestorm over the perceived message of using Kris Kringle as a sugar daddy. While the same joke would be fairly harmless on, say, a t-shirt, many women felt that its placement on underwear added a sinister sexual undertone aimed at adolescent girls. In response to the public outcry, Wal-Mart pulled the offending underthings from its shelves.
3. Confederate-Themed Barbecue Sauce
You may remember the raucous debate about whether the Confederate flag should be flown over the South Carolina State House in 2000, but you probably didn’t know the battle spilled over into Wal-Mart’s grocery aisles. At the time, 90 Southern Wal-Marts were marketing a mustard-based sauce created by Maurice Bessinger, an outspoken advocate of flying the Rebel flag over the State House and owner of eight Piggie Park restaurants.
During the flag debate, Bessinger replaced all American flags at his eateries with Confederate flags, a move that Wal-Mart saw as objectionable and needlessly provocative, so the company yanked his sauces from its stores. (Don’t feel too bad for Bessinger, though; it took nothing less than a 1976 Supreme Court intervention to force him to serve African Americans in his restaurants.)
4. A Shirt That Read “Someday a Woman Will Be President”
In 1995 a Miami-area Wal-Mart pulled this shirt from its racks after consumer complaints. The shirt, which featured the character Margaret from Dennis the Menace, ran afoul of “the company’s family values,” so it went back to the stock rooms. Eventually more reasonable, non-Stone-Age heads prevailed, and the shirt made it back onto the shelves after three months in limbo.
5. Workplace Romance
In November 2005, German courts ruled that Wal-Mart could not ban all workplace romance at its German stores. The retailer had unsuccessfully tried to force all employees to sign off on a 28-page code of ethics that included prohibitions on “lustful glances and ambiguous jokes” and “sexually meaningful communication of any type.”
6. An Al Snow Action Figure
In 1999 Wal-Mart put the brakes on selling an action figure featuring WWE hardcore wrestler Al Snow. Snow’s wrestling gimmick at the time involved walking to the ring while carrying and talking to a mannequin head. Naturally, his action figure came with the head as an accessory, but two professors at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University saw the inclusion of the head as a problem. They told the press that by selling the action figure society was “normalizing violent treatment of women. We are telling little boys that this is acceptable behavior.” (Please, parents: don’t ever give your sons the impression that carrying and talking to part of a mannequin is acceptable.) Following this high-profile outcry, Wal-Mart quit stocking the Al Snow action figure.
7. Megan Fox
The Wal-Mart in the starlet’s hometown supposedly banned her for life following a teenage shoplifting bust. A 2008 report on contactmusic.com alleged that Fox got the heave-ho after being caught swiping a $7 tube of lip gloss during a rebellious shoplifting spree, which earned her the lifetime ban.
8. Lad Mags
If you’re a frisky 17-year-old looking for the latest Maxim, Stuff, or FHM, don’t head to Wal-Mart. Since 2003 the store has banned the so-called “lad mags” due to their racy photo spreads and bawdy editorial content.
It’s actually not all the uncommon for Wal-Mart to give a single issue of a magazine an ax, too. In the past, the store has refused to stock issues of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition and a 2001 issue of InStyle that featured an artistic nude shot of Kate Hudson.
9. Music
Wal-Mart has long declined to stock any music bearing a parental advisory warning for explicit lyrical content, but the company’s fastidiousness with regards to music doesn’t stop there. When the store carried Nirvana’s album In Utero, it changed the song title “Rape Me” to the less offensive (and less coherent) “Waif Me.” Similarly, the store declined to carry Prince’s 1988 album Lovesexy because of a fairly tame cover that featured a nude photo of the artist.
10. Superbad DVDs
When the comedy Superbad hit store shelves in 2007, it came with a little extra: a replica of the fake Hawaii driver’s license used by the self-dubbed “McLovin’.” Most movie fans would simply see this freebie as a little reminder of one of the movie’s funniest scenes, but Hawaiian authorities simply felt it was a fake ID. Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann requested that Wal-Mart pull the DVD from store shelves across the state, and the retailer quickly complied.
11. Cuban Pajamas
Wal-Mart’s Canadian stores found themselves in a pickle in 1997. The Canadian subsidiary had begun selling Cuban-made pajamas at eight bucks a pop across our neighbor to the North, which enraged both the company’s home office and the U.S. Treasury Department.
The stores quickly pulled the offending PJ’s, which led to a second problem: this action may have violated a Canadian law that forbids abiding by the American embargo of Cuba. After the Ottawa government pointed out that Wal-Mart could face a million-dollar fine for pulling the sleepwear from its shelves, the Canadian Wal-Marts reversed the ban after one week. [Underwear & T-shirt images courtesy of Feministing.com.]
11 THINGS WAL-MART HAS BANNED by ETHAN TREX
Retail giant Wal-Mart is the world’s largest public company, and whether or not you’re a fan of shopping at the House that Sam Walton Built, you’ve got to admit that the store stocks just about everything. But not quite, though. There are a number of things that Wal-Mart has banned from its stores at some point. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
1. Barbie’s Pregnant Pal
In 2002 Wal-Mart cleared its shelves of Barbie’s pregnant friend, Midge. The doll, which featured a removable stomach complete with deliverable baby, was part of Mattel’s “Happy Family” set that also included her husband and son. However, customers complained about seeing pregnancy enter into Barbie’s universe, and Wal-Mart pulled all of the Happy Family sets from its stores.
2. This underwear
That’s right: panties that say, “Who needs credit cards…” on the front and “When you have Santa” on the rear. The undergarments started showing up in Wal-Mart’s juniors departments in December 2007 and quickly started an Internet firestorm over the perceived message of using Kris Kringle as a sugar daddy. While the same joke would be fairly harmless on, say, a t-shirt, many women felt that its placement on underwear added a sinister sexual undertone aimed at adolescent girls. In response to the public outcry, Wal-Mart pulled the offending underthings from its shelves.
3. Confederate-Themed Barbecue Sauce
You may remember the raucous debate about whether the Confederate flag should be flown over the South Carolina State House in 2000, but you probably didn’t know the battle spilled over into Wal-Mart’s grocery aisles. At the time, 90 Southern Wal-Marts were marketing a mustard-based sauce created by Maurice Bessinger, an outspoken advocate of flying the Rebel flag over the State House and owner of eight Piggie Park restaurants.
During the flag debate, Bessinger replaced all American flags at his eateries with Confederate flags, a move that Wal-Mart saw as objectionable and needlessly provocative, so the company yanked his sauces from its stores. (Don’t feel too bad for Bessinger, though; it took nothing less than a 1976 Supreme Court intervention to force him to serve African Americans in his restaurants.)
4. A Shirt That Read “Someday a Woman Will Be President”
In 1995 a Miami-area Wal-Mart pulled this shirt from its racks after consumer complaints. The shirt, which featured the character Margaret from Dennis the Menace, ran afoul of “the company’s family values,” so it went back to the stock rooms. Eventually more reasonable, non-Stone-Age heads prevailed, and the shirt made it back onto the shelves after three months in limbo.
5. Workplace Romance
In November 2005, German courts ruled that Wal-Mart could not ban all workplace romance at its German stores. The retailer had unsuccessfully tried to force all employees to sign off on a 28-page code of ethics that included prohibitions on “lustful glances and ambiguous jokes” and “sexually meaningful communication of any type.”
6. An Al Snow Action Figure
In 1999 Wal-Mart put the brakes on selling an action figure featuring WWE hardcore wrestler Al Snow. Snow’s wrestling gimmick at the time involved walking to the ring while carrying and talking to a mannequin head. Naturally, his action figure came with the head as an accessory, but two professors at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University saw the inclusion of the head as a problem. They told the press that by selling the action figure society was “normalizing violent treatment of women. We are telling little boys that this is acceptable behavior.” (Please, parents: don’t ever give your sons the impression that carrying and talking to part of a mannequin is acceptable.) Following this high-profile outcry, Wal-Mart quit stocking the Al Snow action figure.
7. Megan Fox
The Wal-Mart in the starlet’s hometown supposedly banned her for life following a teenage shoplifting bust. A 2008 report on contactmusic.com alleged that Fox got the heave-ho after being caught swiping a $7 tube of lip gloss during a rebellious shoplifting spree, which earned her the lifetime ban.
8. Lad Mags
If you’re a frisky 17-year-old looking for the latest Maxim, Stuff, or FHM, don’t head to Wal-Mart. Since 2003 the store has banned the so-called “lad mags” due to their racy photo spreads and bawdy editorial content.
It’s actually not all the uncommon for Wal-Mart to give a single issue of a magazine an ax, too. In the past, the store has refused to stock issues of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition and a 2001 issue of InStyle that featured an artistic nude shot of Kate Hudson.
9. Music
Wal-Mart has long declined to stock any music bearing a parental advisory warning for explicit lyrical content, but the company’s fastidiousness with regards to music doesn’t stop there. When the store carried Nirvana’s album In Utero, it changed the song title “Rape Me” to the less offensive (and less coherent) “Waif Me.” Similarly, the store declined to carry Prince’s 1988 album Lovesexy because of a fairly tame cover that featured a nude photo of the artist.
10. Superbad DVDs
When the comedy Superbad hit store shelves in 2007, it came with a little extra: a replica of the fake Hawaii driver’s license used by the self-dubbed “McLovin’.” Most movie fans would simply see this freebie as a little reminder of one of the movie’s funniest scenes, but Hawaiian authorities simply felt it was a fake ID. Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann requested that Wal-Mart pull the DVD from store shelves across the state, and the retailer quickly complied.
11. Cuban Pajamas
Wal-Mart’s Canadian stores found themselves in a pickle in 1997. The Canadian subsidiary had begun selling Cuban-made pajamas at eight bucks a pop across our neighbor to the North, which enraged both the company’s home office and the U.S. Treasury Department.
The stores quickly pulled the offending PJ’s, which led to a second problem: this action may have violated a Canadian law that forbids abiding by the American embargo of Cuba. After the Ottawa government pointed out that Wal-Mart could face a million-dollar fine for pulling the sleepwear from its shelves, the Canadian Wal-Marts reversed the ban after one week. [Underwear & T-shirt images courtesy of Feministing.com.]
Saturday, October 3, 2009
RETAIL ADS - LAUNCH OF THE FESTIVE SEASON
This week is seeing a flurry of promotional activity by all the retailers in the print media with focus on the coming festive season. Themes focus around
SHOPPERS STOP has 'Offers to express your Love this Karva Chauth' . The interesting black and white ad has offers for bags, watches , fragrances, cosmetics and jewellery - all targeted as gifts for women. Incidentally, Karva Chauth falls on the 7th of this month and this does offer an opportunity to all retailers to cash in on this occasion.
The GOLD SOUK mall in Gurgaon is the first mall to start its promotional activity with retailers in the mall participating in offers. A special is the 'Karva Chauth Festival from the 4th to 7th October.
HOME STOP has a 'Dream Diwali Offer' special free offers on purchases of particular values.
RELIANCE JEWELS has ' Celebrate the New' headline and has offers on diamond and gold jewellery making charges - upto 100% off.
RELIANCE DIGITAL has ' Sparkling Celebrations' with 3 main offers - Digital home celebrations, Digital computer celebrations and Digital telecom celebrations. Mark down prices and free offers are the dominant features.
WESTSIDE plans to take advantage of the festive season with it's 'Diwali Delight' theme. The articles on offer - free Diamond Pendant and a free Titan Watch.
HOME TOWN talks about Festive Homes and ' 30% Money Back + Exciting Offers for your Home ' Product oriented ad with focus on the different offerings.
VISHAL MEGA MART with its full page ad talks about ' Deepawali ke Deep Jalagoe' and has lucky draws, free gifts and B1G1 offers.
MOM & ME , the Mahindra group retail venture for mothers to be and kids too is advertising its 'Festive Offers' with discounts upto 50%.
- Karva Chauth
- Diwali
SHOPPERS STOP has 'Offers to express your Love this Karva Chauth' . The interesting black and white ad has offers for bags, watches , fragrances, cosmetics and jewellery - all targeted as gifts for women. Incidentally, Karva Chauth falls on the 7th of this month and this does offer an opportunity to all retailers to cash in on this occasion.
The GOLD SOUK mall in Gurgaon is the first mall to start its promotional activity with retailers in the mall participating in offers. A special is the 'Karva Chauth Festival from the 4th to 7th October.
HOME STOP has a 'Dream Diwali Offer' special free offers on purchases of particular values.
RELIANCE JEWELS has ' Celebrate the New' headline and has offers on diamond and gold jewellery making charges - upto 100% off.
RELIANCE DIGITAL has ' Sparkling Celebrations' with 3 main offers - Digital home celebrations, Digital computer celebrations and Digital telecom celebrations. Mark down prices and free offers are the dominant features.
WESTSIDE plans to take advantage of the festive season with it's 'Diwali Delight' theme. The articles on offer - free Diamond Pendant and a free Titan Watch.
HOME TOWN talks about Festive Homes and ' 30% Money Back + Exciting Offers for your Home ' Product oriented ad with focus on the different offerings.
VISHAL MEGA MART with its full page ad talks about ' Deepawali ke Deep Jalagoe' and has lucky draws, free gifts and B1G1 offers.
MOM & ME , the Mahindra group retail venture for mothers to be and kids too is advertising its 'Festive Offers' with discounts upto 50%.
AUTO SALES ZOOM
The Consumer Confidence Index may have dropped in the month of September, but this certainly does not seem to be reflected in the auto sector as car sales reached record heights in the month. The festive season along with more bonuses and increasing job confidence seems to have driven this frenzy of buying. Another important factor has been the availability of cheaper finance. The month of September saw an impressive 1.60 lac units being sold against 1.32 lac units sold in Sep 08. This is an impressive 21% growth in a sluggish environment.
Even the traditionally inauspicious period of Sharad did not effect sales with consumers continuing their spending binge.
With this conflicting consumer behavior, it would be interesting to see how sales pick up across other categories during the month of October - the most important festive season for all retailers.
Even the traditionally inauspicious period of Sharad did not effect sales with consumers continuing their spending binge.
With this conflicting consumer behavior, it would be interesting to see how sales pick up across other categories during the month of October - the most important festive season for all retailers.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
LOW CONSUMER SPENDING IN SEPTEMBER
Consumer confidence seems to have dipped lower in the month of September . With worries on inflation, state of the economy, inadequate monsoon and job security, consumers have switched to savings mode rather than spending mode. In September, the CNBC-TV18 Boston Analytics Consumer Confidence Index dropped by 1%. compared to August.
With increased propensity to save by consumers, the savings component of the Index showed a rise. The study revealed that the upcoming festive season does not seem to have propelled spending either which continues to remain extremely weak. Of the respondents interviewed, only 20% were willing to buy consumer durables this year as against 60% last year.
Industry players however maintain that though September was a slow month, things are picking up and trends after the period of Sharads show a 25 - 30% growth. Mr V Ramachandran, Director Marketing maintains that the outlook is positive.
The 1st week of October should give an indication of how the season would shape up.
With increased propensity to save by consumers, the savings component of the Index showed a rise. The study revealed that the upcoming festive season does not seem to have propelled spending either which continues to remain extremely weak. Of the respondents interviewed, only 20% were willing to buy consumer durables this year as against 60% last year.
Industry players however maintain that though September was a slow month, things are picking up and trends after the period of Sharads show a 25 - 30% growth. Mr V Ramachandran, Director Marketing maintains that the outlook is positive.
The 1st week of October should give an indication of how the season would shape up.
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