With the festival season beginning with Navratris and Durga Puja, consumer product companies across categories are hopeful of a recovery in discretionary spending. Players in various sectors, including furniture, beauty, and white goods, are targeting high double-digit growth this festival season.
Ashish Shah, Co-Founder and CEO of Pepperfry, the leading online furniture and home goods marketplace, said, “In the past few quarters, demand for discretionary categories has been subdued due to inflationary pressures, among other factors. But now we are really hoping that festival season demand trends will see a significant turnaround. So we are looking at 25–30 per cent growth in this festival season. Everyone who is in the discretionary category is hoping to see a respite.”
Increasing demand
The beauty and personal care segment, too, is banking strongly on the festival and wedding season boost. Vineeta Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics, said, “This year, due to inflation, demand across categories had been a bit muted. But we are seeing early signs that the festival recovery and bounce back in demand. The last few days have been phenomenal, and we have seen strong double-digit growth year-on-year across channels. Of course, the festive season in India is late this year as Diwali is in mid-November, and hence the build-up to the season began only around September-end. It has just started in the east, and demand will now pick up in the north and west, followed by the southern region.”
Adverse impact
Consumer durable firms had seen an adverse impact on sales in the first quarter, especially for cooling products, due to unseasonal rains in certain parts of the country. Now, they are hoping to witness a recovery in sales backed by positive consumer sentiment. In a statement, Kamal Nandi, Business Head and EVP, Godrej Appliances, said, “With our new line-up of premium products across refrigerators, washing machines, and ACs, we are targeting 30–40 per cent growth this festival season over last year. The premium segment this year has been witnessing over 30 per cent growth, and for the festival season, bets are on premium pickup, aided by special festive offers and finance schemes easing affordability.” He cautioned, however.that an uneven monsoon may impact demand in certain geographies.
“Festivals are a time when consumers are willing to loosen their purse strings and spend a little more across categories, and we expect to see similar trends this year. Based on the trends we saw in Q3 and the beginning of Q4 (of the calendar year), we feel very positive and encouraged with the way we will hopefully end this year,” said Arnab Roy, Vice President-Marketing, Coca-Cola India and South-West Asia.