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With online sales picking up and a rise in customer spending, textile retailers are seeing a turnaround in sales this Diwali after a sluggish season last year.
Velmurugan A, Manager, The Chennai Silks, a textile retail chain, said the sales are showing a positive trend due to increase in customer spending for Diwali combined with the wedding season this year.
Spending per customer This season spending per customer per piece of clothing has risen to ₹500 from ₹200 last year, he added. The online sales are picking up as well. Velmurugan said, “The number of online orders for this season is around 5,000 as compared to 2,000-3,000 last year.”
Stating that Diwali sales took a hit last year due to incessant rain, Velmurugan said in order to facilitate customers, this year parking facilities have been improved. “We have doubled our parking availability to 200 for cars and 500 for two-wheelers.”
Outstation shoppers Jeyasree Ravi, owner of Palam Silks, said apart from people in Chennai, the shop witnessed increase in the number of people coming from Tiruchi, Madurai and other southern districts for Diwali purchase. “If the footfall is 100, outstation shoppers constitute 20 per cent compared to 10 per cent last year,” she added.
“Another trend we have noticed is the rise in the number of young customers who come to purchase sarees,” Ravi said. For every 10 persons who come to Palam Silks, five are youngsters aged between 20 and 30. They buy in bulk, ranging between six and 10, which was not the case earlier where per person purchase during the festival season was only two-three, she added.
Targeting youth In order to attract the younger crowd, who possess more disposable incomes, industry players like RmKV and Palam Silks have launched light-weight silks that are easy to drape and comes in attractive colours and designs.
K Sivakumar, Managing Director, RmKV, said the recently launched Lino light silk was designed to attract youngsters. Lino light-silk is a part of the collection launched for the season. The price for the new collections ranges between ₹15,000 and ₹42,000.
Retailers like RmKV and The Chennai Silks are planning to launch an app, which would facilitate home delivery of silk sarees within city limits.
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