Heavy discounts and marketing efforts drove record business for this year’s Black Friday weekend sales which top retailers and brands said was almost 70-80% of what they would achieve during big shopping periods like Republic and Independence Day sales. Chief executives said this helped companies to liquidate most of their unsold festive season stock.
Departmental store chain Lifestyle International CEO Devarajan Iyer said Black Friday sales have been pretty good and a lot of stock has been liquidated. He said the company achieved almost 70-75% sales of what it does during Republic and Independence Days.
“There was a double digit year-on-year sales growth in our stores except those in Tamil Nadu and Telangana where the cyclone impacted store operations during the weekend. This pulled down the overall company growth rate to single digit,” he said.
Marketers said the high discounts this year drove sales.
“Indian consumers love discounts. While discounts have been commonplace nowadays, deep discounts offered during the Black Friday sales created an incentive for consumers to come out to buy something since they have been deferring their demand for a while now,” said Santosh Desai, a social commentator and brand expert.
Leading electronic retail chain Vijay Sales director Nilesh Gupta said it too recorded 75-80% of the business it achieves during big shopping days.
“There were discounts on smartphones during Black Friday which as a category instantly drives sales. Televisions and appliance sales too were brisk. Brands undertook heavy marketing which had a positive rub-off effect. In 1-2 years, Black Friday can be as big as Republic or Independence Day sales in India,” he said.
There was good footfall in the malls during the weekend as top brands such as H&M, Levi’s, Skechers, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, Puma and Adidas rolled out heavy discounts across most of their merchandise.
“The Black Friday sales were a hit this weekend. Footfall and sales went up by 30-40% in many brands compared to last year’s sales. We are hoping that with this weekend consumption buoyancy will return back,” said Pushpa Bector, senior executive director and business head at DLF Retail, which owns many malls in North India.
An executive at a prominent apparel brand said discounts of up to 70% on platforms like Amazon and Myntra drove higher sales online compared to physical stores. Even luxury brands such as Michael Kors, Coach, Guess, Swarovski and Tommy Hilfiger were being sold on discounts of up to 70%.
A lot more brands participated in this year’s Black Friday sales which started last Friday and continued till the weekend with some even extending it to Monday. Black Friday has traditionally been a big sale period in the West which starts the shopping season for Christmas. In India, marketers have been trying to develop it as a property to push sales after Diwali which has always been a lull period.
Most brands and retailers matched the scale of discounts during Black Friday to that of Independence Day and Republic Day which are big revenue grossers. Executives said this was because they were trying to clear unsold inventory after the festive season.
This year’s festive season was an average one with a sudden deceleration in urban demand reported by brands in the past two quarters even though rural consumer sentiments have been improving. Brands reported brisk demand mainly for premium products such as cars, smartphones, apparel, refrigerators and televisions. While premium products sales grew in double digits, demand for mass products was weak limiting overall festive sales growth to single digit.
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