Offline channels are very much alive and kicking, despite the aggressiion of the e-commerce players.
Despite lower-than-expected sales of consumer durables in the brick-and-mortar stores during the pre-Diwali period, offline channels reported a strong uptick in demand in the run-up to the D-day.
Overall, the consumer durables industry recorded a double-digit sales growth during this festival season over last year.
Kamal Nandi, Business Head and EVP, Godrej Appliances, said: “Overall, the consumer durables industry saw a growth in the range of 10-15 per cent this Diwali season over last year. Good sales momentum was seen across the country. Some markets witnessed a growth of 20 per cent.”
He added that consumers increasingly shelled out money for premium products across various categories of home appliances. Nandi said that while sales in the offline channel were lower than expected post-Dasara, they picked up strongly in the past few days in the run-up to Diwali.
Nilesh Gupta, MD, Vijay Sales, said, “We saw a reasonable growth of 6-7 per cent during the festival period. Though we had expected a tad higher growth, e-commerce players were aggressive with their offers this time. However, we expect this growth momentum to continue in the next few days and we are likely to end the season with 8-10 per cent growth.”
While the established players are straddling the offline and online channels, some of the new and upcoming brands have been relying solely on the online channel for distribution.
Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO of Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd, brand licensee for Kodak and Thomson TVs in India, said that the contribution of online sales in certain categories especially in the TV segment has increased dramatically.
“From 17-18 per cent, online sale contribution to the TV segment has grown to 35 per cent this festival season. As a company, we saw growth of over 110 per cent during this period and have improved our marketshare in the TV segment,” he added.
Haier India said that the company saw strong double-digit growth this festival season. Eric Braganza, President, Haier Appliances India, said, “We grew by 60 per cent in October over last year. Both offline and online channels contributed to this growth. We saw consumers increasingly opting for mid to high end products”