We are witnessing double-digit growth – CEO, Shoppers Stop
Mr Govind Shirkhande, CEO, Shoppers Stop
It is now more than one year since the recessionary trends crept into the Indian economy. The burgeoning apparel retail sector also deeply felt the impact of the crisis after having ridden on double digit growth rates in the last few years. But since the last few months, signs of revival are visible and now after the recession gloom, it seems like good times for the retailers.
In the festive season of Deepawali, retailers across all sectors and categories had reported excellent year-on-year growth after having witnessed sluggish sales in the same period of the previous year. Now with Christmas just over and New Year round the corner and signs of feel good factor all around, it could once again mean back to the times of double digit growth rates.
In an exclusive interview with Fibre2fashion, Mr Govind Shirkhande, CEO of Shoppers Stop spoke about growth in sales in December and reasons for the same. Shoppers Stop is a pioneer in what is today called the modern and retail store format. It has 22 store strong network across India and had also acquired “Crossword”, India's leading retail book chain in 2000.
Speaking about sales growth in Christmas and New Year, vis-à-vis last year, Mr Shirkhande said, “Retail thrives on positive sentiments across the economy as well as amongst the consumers. Last year, was a year full of problems on all fronts; Global recession - resulting in economic slowdown in India; Security issues- Post 26/11, job insecurity, swine flu, etc. Post-November as the economic growth is picking up pace, we clearly see an impact on December sales and are witnessing double digit growth in December.”
When asked about other reasons behind this growth, other than revival in economy, he explained by saying, “Growth had a “Built in Base Effect” of sales fall during the last year; hence, retailers should not get overtly euphoric about their performance.”
He added by saying, “Also many of the retailers have gone on an aggressive markdown/discounting model along with which a few retail formats like Subhiksha and Pyramid have closed down creating opportunity for existing players and apart from GDP growth, the pick-up in car sales, exports, air travel are also good indicators for the future.”
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India