Dhanteras brings out best retail day of year

Buoyant festive demand, considered India's largest sales period, will be a relief to companies and retailers as it comes in the backdrop of deficient monsoons, high food inflation, volatility in IT sector employment, continued geopolitical uncertainties and risks of El Niño weather conditions.

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Consumers thronged retail stores on Dhanteras to take delivery of the latest cars, refrigerators, air conditioners, apparel and footwear, helping companies and retailers clock best single-day sales this year, including in rural markets.

The demand spurt lifted festive season sales since Navratri by up to 20% by value and 5-8% by volume on average over the year-earlier period across most categories, said top executives at several companies. Ecommerce orders also surged more than 20%, per market studies.

Smartphones, smart TVs and laptops, however, stayed in negative territory, reporting unit sale declines of up to 15% amid sharp price increases of up to 40% this year, though growing up to 10% by value, said retailers.

Car dealers in north India recorded almost a month's worth of customer deliveries on Friday, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). Overall vehicle sales — including cars, two- and three-wheelers, commercial vehicles and tractors — for the festive period from Navratri to two weeks after Diwali are, however, likely to remain flat due to the high base of last year when sales surged 21% post GST rate cuts. "Despite the huge base, flat sales indicate good demand," said FADA president Sai Giridhar.

Market leaders reported robust growth, signalling a broad-based recovery in consumption. Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, said retail sales between Ganesh Chaturthi and Dhanteras grew 17% to 400,000 units despite the high base.

The company has orders outstanding for 253,000 cars, with inventory equivalent to 11 days of sales.

LG Electronics India, the largest home appliance maker, too reported double digit value growth. Others like Godrej Appliances posted more than 50% value growth, while Haier India recorded nearly 30% growth by value and 10% by volume.

Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki said the company will be delivering more than 30,000 cars on Dhanteras, compared with 50,000 over the same two days last year. Dhanteras was spread over two days last year enabling a higher number of total deliveries.

"Overall, between Dhanteras and Labh Pancham on November 14, which brings the Diwali season to a close, we will deliver more than 70,000 vehicles this year, representing growth of 14-15% over the same period last year," Banerjee said. "We have waiting periods on almost all our models."