Merchandise sales higher than pre-Covid level on Independence Day weekend

This Independence Day weekend, shoppers rushed to malls as many retailers put their merchandise on hefty discounts. In some cases, the discounts were even higher than end-of-season sales. Malls also witnessed higher footfalls compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

“Across the Nexus Malls portfolio, we have had a bumper Independence Day sale. While the audited numbers will come in by month-end, we are estimating over 35 per cent growth in sales at the portfolio level. Our footfalls have also shown a good increase over 2019.

Our assured satisfaction and unique activation, which we had across our malls, seem to have worked well with customers,” Nishank Joshi, chief marketing officer (CMO), Nexus Malls, told Business Standard.

Vijay Sales also saw strong sales during the Independence Day weekend. "Sales this weekend was very good. In value terms, sales were higher than 20 per cent and in volume terms it was up 7-8 per cent compared to pre-Covid Independence Day sales," Nilesh Gupta MD of Vijay Sales.  

He added that categories such as electronics, luxury and women’s fashion seem to have done well across the portfolio.

Electronics retail chain Croma said it witnessed a significant rise in sales across its stores and ecommerce channels. 

“LED TVs, home appliances and laptops were the best-performing categories alongside mobiles. Also, with everything moving back to normal, our Croma stores have seen higher footfalls across regions.

It’s an encouraging start for the much larger festive season lined up over the next few months,” a company spokesperson said. Croma offered discounts, which were as steep as 80 per cent. Also, it had various equated-monthly instalment (EMI) offers up to 18 months. 

Infiniti Malls said both its malls witnessed a considerable increase in footfalls and sales compared to 2019.

“The extended festive weekend ensured patrons get out in large numbers. Due to this, we saw a surge in high spending across shopping, dining and leisure activities. Various brands extended the end-of-season sale for the weekend. Our overall sales momentum increased as compared to pre-pandemic numbers,” said Nitin Bir, vice-president, Infiniti Mall. 

Retailers were already running end-of-season sales, which started in June. Eventually, they increased the discounts in order to also clear off old inventory. Retail sales have largely picked up after two years of Covid, as many shoppers are also opting to pick up stuff at full price.

Lalit Agarwal, chairman and managing director (CMD) of V-Mart Retail said it witnessed a good response as Raksha Bandhan and Independence Day sales came together. The retail chain saw that sales during Independence Day weekend were similar to that of the same period during pre-Covid. 

The retail chain ran offers like buy-one-get-one-free and Maha Bachat ka Double Offer. 

Agarwal said though overall sales have picked up compared to the previous quarter, they continue to lag compared to pre-Covid. 

The retail chain, which is predominantly present in smaller towns and cities, had earlier seen an impact on sales due to weak consumer sentiment coupled with inflation. 

“Against Independence Day sales of 2019, we witnessed a decent double-digit jump,” said Manish Kapoor, chief executive officer (CEO) at Pepe Jeans India.

Pepe Jeans had offered 35-40 per cent of its inventory at a flat 50 per cent discount on the last three days of Independence Day sale.