13 August 2022, Mumbai:

What is apparel retail industry

Revenues of apparel retailers are expected to grow by 21-23 per cent in 2023 on account of strong same-store sales, new store launches, and higher contribution from online channel, despite elevated inflation impacting discretionary demand.

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As per a study by CRISIL, the operating margins of retailers is expected to mprove 175-200 bps on-year to 7.75-8 per cent, supported by increase in scale leading to better fixed-cost absorption, price hikes, and greater share of private labels.

However, higher input prices will cap the operating margin 50-70 bps below the pre-pandemic level. Among the key inputs, domestic prices of cotton almost doubled between April 2020 and May 2022. Despite some moderation since June 2022, they are expected to remain higher that what it was before the pandemic.

Clothing retailers and brands

Balance sheets of apparel retailers were managed well during the pandemic through timely equity raising, which helped mitigate the impact of volatility in revenue and profitability. Now, given improving revenue and profitability, and therefore higher cash from operations, apparel retailers are well placed to invest in increasing stores and online presence, which will gradually benefit their credit profiles.

Garment and Retailers

CRISIL Ratings expects large apparel retailers to grow faster at 25-30 percent this fiscal, compared with 10-15 percent by their small and mid-sized counterparts. This would be on a relatively lower base as the large ones, being predominantly situated in malls and high streets, were impacted more by the pandemic-related lockdowns.

They will also lead the improvement in operating margins with ~250-300 bps expansion this fiscal. Because of higher fixed costs, their operating margins were more negatively impacted during the pandemic.

That situation will now reverse. Moreover, they typically have stronger and well-established brands that command higher gross margins compared with mid-sized apparel retailers.

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05 August 2022, Mumbai:

According to a RedSeer report, the size of the live commerce market in India is expected to reach a gross merchandise value of $4-5 billion by 2025.

The categories that are expected to contribute to this growth are beauty and personal care, and fashion.

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Nothing Phone (1) recently debuted on the ‘Flipkart Live’ platform. Around 3.8 lakh users logged in for the sale, with more than 3.19 lakh peak concurrent viewers.

Flipkart has been routinely experimenting with the live commerce section on its app. It engages with content creators to promote different products that make up its inventory.

Users can log in to the Flipkart app, go to the categories tab and click on the ‘Live’ button. When they do so, they are taken to a section where live stream sales are routinely hosted across various categories, like fashion, home furnishings, kitchen tools, beauty and makeup, and electronics.

Myntra (which is also owned by Flipkart) also has a play in the live commerce category. On Myntra’s app, there is a section titled M-Live Potential customers can access live videos by various influencers across various product categories.

At the heart of most live commerce ventures, is the fact that the influencers endorsing these products, are believable and viewed as a credible source of information when it comes to the categories they claim to be experts in.

Rohit Khanna, Co-founder, and COO, of Eleve Media, explains. live stream shopping combines the convenience of instant purchasing of a featured product and the real-time engagement of audience participation through a chat function or reaction buttons.

SowmyaIyer, founder and CEO, DViO Digital, adds, live commerce makes the best use of social media, e-commerce, and streaming technology, and enables real-time interaction.

Khanna points out, that live commerce can potentially make shopping exciting and immersive, allow users to interact with each other, build a community and have conversations, he adds.

PalkushRaiChawla, Director-Product Management, ShareChat&Moj, mentions, that the reason for the rising popularity of social media apps is because people want to watch relatable content.

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28 July 2022, Mumbai:

Kolkata-based garment maker Rupa and Company’s new seller business called RetailFZ is taking over Cloudtail’s home and kitchen business.

Cloudtail was the biggest seller on Amazon before shut by the etailer after acquiring a 100 per cent stake in Prione, as existing norms do not allow an entity running an online marketplace or its group companies to own equity in any seller on the platform or control its inventory.

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Besides home and kitchen, RetailEZ will also sell sports-related products like gym equipment, Agarwal said.

Cloudtail is moving its business to several new and existing seller firms after Amazon’s acquisition.

The transition has, however, not been smooth. Sales of fast-moving consumer goods have fallen significantly on Amazon India after brands including Nestle, Dabur and HUL could not issue credit to the new sellers over a lack of history in dealing with large business volumes and not having in place the required processes and technologies.

Amazon is assisting these new sellers in the transition by asking former Cloudtail employees to work with them temporarily.

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09 August 2022, Mumbai:

Reliance Industries expanded its retail network in FY22 by adding 2,500 stores with an investment of 30,000 crores.

Reliance Retail increased its total store count to 15,196 during the year. Besides, Reliance Retail added 11.1 million square feet of warehousing space during the year, nearly doubling the warehousing space to 22.7 million square feet.

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In FY22, Reliance Retail added over 1.50 lakh jobs, taking its total headcount to 3.61 lakh. During the fiscal year, Reliance Retail further strengthened its sourcing ecosystem, working closely with producers, MSMEs, service providers, and local and international brand companies.

In FY22, on average, Reliance Retail Ltd added seven stores per day.

Moreover, its merchant partnerships and digital commerce witnessed a substantial increase and contributed nearly 17 percent of its revenues compared to 10 percent in the preceding year, it said.

Reliance Retail, which had in FY22 acquired a majority stake in Just Dial, partnered with several leading Indian and global coutures and acquired franchise right. It plans to develop new brands, integrate acquisitions, and launch and scale up new businesses.

Reliance Brands will also work to strengthen supply chain infrastructure and product and design ecosystems to support business growth.

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02 August 2022, Mumbai:

Democratizing fashion in India, the country’s largest and fastest growing apparel and accessories specialty chain of Reliance Retail, Trends, launched its second store in Angul, Odisha.

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By connecting with customers in India, Trends has become India’s favorite fashion shopping destination. The Angul store is modern and features good quality and relevant fashion merchandise for the consumers of the region at prices that are affordable.

Reliance Trends's store houses women’s wear, men’s wear, kids' wear, and fashion accessories, at delightful prices.

The 14,000 sq. ft. store has introduced a special inaugural offer for its customers, besides great relevant fashion and amazing prices.

As part of the special inaugural offer, customers can shop for Rs 3,499 and get an exciting gift at just Rs 199. They will also get coupons worth Rs3,000 absolutely free on purchase of Rs 2,999 from the store.

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08 August 2022, Mumbai:

Revenues of mall operators in India are expected to rise amid rising footfalls following the withdrawal of COVID-19 restrictions, projects CRISIL.

The consequent healthy improvement in cash flows and steady debt levels are also likely to improve the average debt service coverage ratio (DSCR1) to 1.3 times this fiscal from 1 time last fiscal.

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Anand Kulkarni, Director, CRISIL India Ratings says, malls have seen swifter recovery with each passing COVID-19 wave. The third wave did not materially impact the sector, as malls were not completely shut.

Major mall operators trajectory has since remained strong, with retail sales already at 120-125 percent of the pre-pandemic mark in the first quarter of this fiscal. Business traction has helped malls roll back rental waivers offered to tenants.

That, and escalations based on contractual terms will drive rental income 10 percent above the pre-pandemic level this fiscal, adds Kulkarni

Shopping Mall operators had waived off rent during the pandemic, thereby ensuring healthy occupancies at 90 percent. Additionally, the expected increase in revenue share linked to healthy retail sales has strengthened the cash flow visibility of malls.

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02 August 2022, Mumbai:

Developers’ rush to build A-Grade malls in India has made available almost 10.15 million sq ft of mall space this year, as per an Anarock report.

India is expected to build approximately 15 malls across 12 Tier I, II, and III cities in 2022. Chennai will see the highest development with four malls sprawled over 2.55 million sq ft being developed in the city.

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A total of 5.1 million sq ft of new mall space will be provided to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and Ghaziabad in NCR. Some 2.5 million sq ft is devoted to Tier II and Tier III cities, such as Vadodara, Budaun, Indore, Nagpur, and Udaipur, according to the report.

In recent months, mall occupancy levels have returned to pre-pandemic highs across the country. New shopping malls are coming up and existing ones are looking for ways to expand, says Rohtas Goel, chairman, of Omaxe, whose retail project at Chandni Chowk is at the final stages of construction.

Tier II and III cities are experiencing rapid mall penetration. These cities have seen an increase of 91 percent in mall supply in the past year, according to a recent report.

There has been a significant rise in disposable income in these cities, as well as mobile internet penetration and support infrastructure.

Consumers in these cities have shown an apparent preference for branded products, which has led to rapid growth in organized retail, the report added.

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06 August 2022, Mumbai:

India's biggest real estate developer DLF Malls Delhi plans to bid for a prominent New Delhi shopping mall which has a starting auction price of $366 million.

The 1.2 million sqft "Ambience Mall" in the posh southern district of India's capital has been put up for auction as its current owner, the Ambience Group, has not paid the debt of $149 million to India bulls Housing Finance and other creditors.

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DLF malls in Delhi NCR will review data related to the mall's occupancy status and contractual obligations and then consider whether to bid for it or not, one of the sources with direct knowledge said on Thursday.

The Ambience mall houses prominent brands like Swedish fashion retailer H&M and Uniqlo, owned by Japan's Fast Retailing. It is located right next to two other giant DLF mall on the same stretch, including one that houses luxury brands.

A public notice stated the auction will end on September 5 and that the reserve price for the mall was Rs. 29 billion.

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29 July 2022, Mumbai:

IKEA India plans to increase local sourcing and cut product prices to attract consumers amid rising prices.

SussanePulverer, CEO, IKEA India has increased the prices of some of its products while absorbing the inflation costs on other products.

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The retailer has stores spanning 300,000 to 400,000 square feet usually located on the outskirts of Mumbai. The Swedish retailer opened its fourth store in the country in the R city mall, Mumbai. This will be the third store in the city.

Reportedly, even after three stores in Mumbai, the retailer plans to continue with its expansion plans in the city. With the launch of the third store in Mumbai, IKEA will have five operational stores in the country. IKEA India on July 28 will launch its second city store in Mumbai after Worli.

The company also launched a large format store in Navi Mumbai in 2020.

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09 July 2022, Mumbai:

Mall developers’ rental income is expected to grow by 30 per cent Y-o-Y in 2022-23 and surpass 2019-20 levels by 4-6 per cent in the current financial year, as per a report by ratings agency ICRA.

Growth in the income will be driven by pent-up demand, high vaccination coverage and resumption of multiplexes, retail malls since August 2021.

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Recovery in rental incomes at 74 per cent in Q2 FY2922 and reaching 102 per cent of pre-COVID levels in H2FY2922. New vacant space totaled around 11 million sqft in FY2021 and FY2011 across six cities, says Anupama Reddy, Vice President & Sector Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA.

However, the incremental space absorption was only around 4 million sqft during this period resulting in a significant increase in the vacancy levels to 23 per cent in 2021-22 from 18 per cent in 2019-20. With the normalcy in the trading values, the occupancy is expected to improve in FY2023, adds Reddy.

The debt-to-OPBDITA ratio is expected to ease to 6x-8x in 2022-23 from 8x-10x in 2021-22, with a significant rise in operating profit before depreciation, interest, tax and amortization supported by improved trading density and footfalls.

Debt service coverage ratio, which was less than 1x for two consecutive years is expected to improve to 1.10-1.15x in FY2023 with the improved rental recoveries.

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