Some of the large retailers in the apparel sector are hopeful that from April the industry would bounce back to normalcy leaving behind the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the Covid-19 lockdown easing since August, people have been coming out in large numbers to shop for Diwali, they said while participating in the 2nd Conversation — Tamil Nadu Smiling — organised by The Hindu Group on the topic “Are Consumers Back with a Vengeance?” The webinar was moderated by TE Raja Simhan, Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu BusinessLine .

“Covid-19 crash-landed all of us. But the apparel industry has been growing and it is a very positive sign. For the industry to get back to normal immediately from the pandemic is not possible, and it cannot be expected either. However, it is a very extremely positive environment now. Business is climbing. People are coming out to shop. Our growth is looking better than a lot of other industries. As a sign of recovery, the apparel industry is a great bellwether for all of us,” said Suhail Sattar, Chairman, Chennai Chapter, Retailers Association of India and Co-founder and Director of Hasbro Clothing.

On what kind of support do the retailers need from the government, Sattar said, it should be more with employment; help in paying the wage bill and loan or at least, interest waiver, he said.

Tamil Nadu market

Agreeing with Sattar, Charath Narasimhan, Managing Director, Indian Terrain, said that some States will bounce back faster. Tamil Nadu is a high consumption driven State. This year, Diwali has come in November while usually it is in October and followed by Pongal in January within two months. The weddings that were supposed to be held early this year have been postponed after Diwali and from February. There is a series of potential triggers right through for the next five months. “Going in to April, we should be able to touch the pre-Covid levels,” he said.

According to Narasimhan, Tamil Nadu has rebounded a bit faster. Traditionally, Diwali is a big and important festival in the State. The importance of this festival is extremely high, and people save for this occasion. “People are coming back, and better than I expected initially,” he said.

Online shopping

On the impact of e-shopping on physical shopping, Narasimhan said, it brought a lot of new customers. Buying in a store is an experience. Technology has aided customers to choose the products faster. Our focus is driving our own web stores. e-Commerce is here to stay as adoption of technology is very high.

Before pandemic 10 per cent of sales was through e-commerce, and in the last six months, it has increased to 35-40 per cent. As stores are opening up, it would be settling down at around 20 per cent at the end of the year and in the next year or two, it will be a quarter of company's business, he said.

Jeyasree Ravi, Founder of Palam Silks said, “from April we should be able to do well. I would say the sale is 50-60 per cent of last year. This is commendable as this has happened within a very short span of time,” she added.

“In the coming months, we have bigger weddings, and that’s when people would be shopping with a vengeance. The pandemic has taught us a little more on saving. We have to see if they are planning to spend,” she added. She also expects the demand to go beyond Diwali.