NEW DELHI: From small buys such as apparel and sweets to making once-in-a-lifetime purchases, consumers are not holding back this festive season. According to Redseer, the first week of the 2023 Festive season sale, which concluded on October 15, saw online platforms clocking a gross merchandise value (GMV) of R47,000 crore, growing at 19% over the first week of the 2022 Festive season sale.
Now that the season is heading towards the end of Navratri and with Dhanteras and Diwali coming soon, there is increased buoyancy in the market that consumer spending may peak this season and various sectors of the economy may register their best ever festive season.
“I think the mood is set. The initial trend is very good. Dealers are ready with stocks unlike last year when semi-conductor shortage led to a huge waiting period,” FADA President Manish Raj Singhania told this newspaper when asked what the auto sector is expecting this festive season. In the 42-day festive period of CY2022, passenger vehicle (PV) sales grew by 34% to 4.56 lakh units. Two-wheeler sales also registered a good growth of 26% last year at 21.56 lakh units.
“We have predicted a single-digit growth for the PV segment this financial year and till now that is what is happening,” said Singhania. PV sales in September 2023 grew by 19.03% YoY at 332,248 units. On 2W sales, Singhania said that despite most months in FY24 not registering a growth, sales picked up in September and they expect to register a growth this festive season over last year. Besides attractive finance schemes, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers are offering a discount of 5-10% on the purchase value of many hatchbacks, sedans and entry-level cars. There is not much discount on SUVs, especially on the top-end variants. One can expect a discount of 4-5% on two-wheelers as well. In the last few weeks, carmakers such as Skoda, Honda, Citroen, and Maruti Suzuki have rolled out various festive season offers. According to industry estimates, car dealerships across India are offering discounts ranging from R25,000 to more than R1 lakh on various models.
Surge in housing sales
Speaking on the demand in the housing sector, which has been hitting new highs every passing quarter, Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Group, said as things stand now, they expect a surge in both new launches and housing sales this festive season because, despite all domestic and global headwinds in the first nine months of 2023, there was a significant surge in residential demand with housing sales creating a new peak.
As per ANAROCK Research, last year in the festive quarter of October to December, it saw as many as 93,000 units launched across the top 7 cities. Puri expects at least 10-15% yearly growth this year which means it will again be above 1 lakh units.
“If we consider the trends in the first nine months of 2023, housing sales reached a new peak and were at an all-time high. To put in numbers, as per ANAROCK Research, 9M 2023 saw total housing sales of over 3.49 lakh units across the top 7 cities which is 96% of the total sales recorded in 2022 despite the rise in both interest rates and housing prices. We expect this trend to continue during the festive season as well,” he said.
A few developers speaking to this newspaper said that they are not offering heavy discounts or freebies this season as demand is very strong. They are expecting high action in the premium segment, especially units priced at R2 crore or more.
Electronic items high in demand
Electronic items, especially smartphones, are also expected to remain in high demand this festive season. According to Counterpoint Research, the festive season smartphone sales this year will grow 7% y-o-y in terms of volumes while the average selling price (ASP) will grow 15% y-o-y. Data by Counterpoint showed that iPhone sales crossed the 1.5 million units mark for the first time ever in the initial week (October 8-15) of festive season sales by e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart.
Among other sectors, gold, paint, apparel, shoes, sweets, snacks and the tourism industry are expecting a robust festive season. This festive season, corporate gifting is also seeing huge traction. “The nature of corporate gifting has evolved over the years and a key trend we are witnessing is that it is getting digitised very quickly and moving from physical form to digital form. Companies are increasingly choosing gift cards and gift vouchers as a means to reward and recognise internal stakeholders such as employees and external stakeholders such as suppliers, dealers, and channel partners,” Akash Hegde, co-founder, of ShakeDeal told TNIE.
