Wednesday December 31, 09:16 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Retailer majors pin hopes on 2009

By Mona Mehta
As we say goodbye to the tumultuous year 2008, retail majors are looking to welcome 2009 with a ray of hope. Sandeep Runwal, managing director, Runwal Group opines, The retail sector has been badly impacted during the second half of 2008 due to the liquidity crunch. Hence, retail majors have dropped 50% of their proposed mall development in India for the next three to four years. Footfalls within retail malls have started reviving since mid-December and we hope the footfalls to grow within hypermarkets more as compared to shopping centres in the first half of 2009. Raising funds from the banks is a major challenge which not only retailers but real estate and hospitality sector are facing. Tarun Joshi, CEO, Brandhouse Retails said, Fashion retailing has experienced a mixed bag in 2008. While the sales has been steady, the fluctuation of rentals has caused the turbulence. But towards the latter part of 2008, the sector witnessed correction in rentals. We look forward to 2009 as a great deal of scope where rentals will be realistic and there will be some sort of stability in the sales pattern. Joshi added, In 2009, the retail sector will also witness innovative partnership between retailers and developers, be it revenue-share based rentals, performance-oriented sharing, apart from collective consumerism, where retailers and developers will see symbiotic relationship. To take the strategy forward, we have recently finalised with two top builders as developers have realised that there is no significance in short term gains. Ajit Joshi, CEO, Croma said, The year 2008 has been good till October. Following November which was quite a challenging, December now looks a bit positive with inflation and interest rates coming down. Premium consumer electronics retail sector has grown between 18-27%.We expect to maintain the same momentum even in 2009. Retail majors, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail, Aditya Birla Nuvo s more stores, Tata s Trent, Westside, Future Group s Pantaloon, Reebok, were able to sustain themselves. Industry experts believe that every recession breeds change and most importantly, what needs to change is the current human psychology in terms of more security at job, stability in income, consistency in delivering more value and protection in public places like the recent terror attacks. Vijay Bobba, CEO, i-mint and a leading marketing strategist said, Though the organised sector has seen a growth of 5-10%, the unorganised sector is currently growing faster. This is only a temporary dip and this will change as soon as the RBI makes changes in its policies. Compared to the West, India is still having a projected growth rate of 6-7%. So, we are still far from hitting any panic button.