Source : ETT / Jan 07, 2022 / IST / https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/shoppers-give-malls-a-miss-as-third-wave-hits/articleshow/88745779

Biz see swift recovery as shoppers throng shops and eateries as restrictions ease

NEW DELHI: Consumer goods companies, retailers, malls and restaurant owners expect a swift recovery from the third wave of the pandemic, with consumers returning to shops and eateries in cities as restrictions are eased. Mumbai’s Infiniti mall reported an improvement in footfall over the past two weeks. “We have seen an increase in footfall, and as a result, sales also went up. So I think the phase of concern is slowly getting over, and people are coming out,” said Mukesh Kumar, chief executive of Infiniti Mall. Kumar, also chairman of the Shopping Centres Association of India, said November-December were “pretty good” for retailers and malls across India. However, the restrictions enforced at the end of December and January impacted businesses, with Kumar estimating malls losing 30-35% of business since pre-pandemic January 2019.

According to some estimates, malls have lost 30-35% of business since January 2019. HT
for around 15 days once the cases reported an uptick, but after that, things are stabilizing fast,” said Sundeep Chugh, chief executive of coffee chain Costa Coffee. Chugh said things are getting back to normal fast due to a lower hospitalization rate, lim-ited stress on medical infrastruc-ture and the general view that Omicron is a ‘manageable’ vari-ant. However, business at bars and nightclubs is still tepid. Sibi Venkataraju, director and co-founder, pH4 Food & Bevera-ges, which runs Toit breweries in Bengaluru and Mumbai, said business is “lukewarm”. Karnataka was under a week-end curfew but allowed restau-rants to open with timing restric-tions and a seating cap. Venkataraju said business in Bengaluru was 80-85% of a regular month and is likely to get better by the end of February. “We are past the third wave. I don’t think that it impacted busi-ness as badly. It did put a little bit of a break on potential recovery,” said Anuj Poddar, executive director, Bajaj Electricals Ltd. However, Poddar flagged sluggish underlying consumer demand that he said reflected a broader slump, adding that inflation was possibly eroding house-hold budgets. Orient Electric Ltd said that it has started getting queries from distributors for the summer sea-son after makers of cooling devi-ces lost out on two consecutive summer months. “As summer sets in, compa-nies that have already built up inventory will go out and sell because there will be more demand and less supply. We have adequately stocked our-selves. We are carrying good inventory across product mix,” said Salil Kappoor, business head, home appliances, Orient Electric. Last week, Mumbai lifted night restrictions while allowing tourist spots to reopen. It instructed restaurants and thea-tres to open with 50% capacity and normal timing. Delhi, too, permitted restaurants to open with up to 50% of seating, but a night curfew was left unchanged. The city rolled back weekend curfews late last month. Sagan Daryani, chief executive and co-founder of Wow! Momo Foods, said business dipped in January, but the impact was less severe than in the preceding two waves.