V-Mart Retail hopes the festive season will bring a revival in the consumer demand, said Anand Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer, V-Mart Retail.
The retailer has been witnessing a decline in footfalls in the last few months because of the overall slowdown.
With the market and consumer spending outlook evenly poised on the expectations of a bountiful monsoon, the company is gearing up for the festive season comprising the triad of Durga Puja-Diwali-Chhath Puja.
This year, the festive season will kick start with Navratri on September 29, followed by Dussehra on October 8 and Diwali on October 27.
“There is a slowdown and we have seen fewer footfalls in the store but now with good monsoon, we are hopeful of recovery, and with the festival season coming up with Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali early this year, we hope to see a revival in the demand,” Agarwal told Moneycontrol.
He was speaking on the sidelines of Retail CFO Summit organised by RAI.
V-Mart Retail is a Tier II and III focused clothing, lifestyle products and grocery retailer that caters mainly to the aspirational buyers.
Its 214 stores, spanning a total 17.9 lakh square feet, are mainly spread across northern and eastern states with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha being the biggest ones.
Agarwal believes the slowdown is arising out of problems in the NBFC sector which would have affected consumption.
Continuing its retail footprint expansion, the company opened 13 new stores in the April-June quarter, reaching a total area of 1.88 million sq. ft.
During the last quarter, the company also closed down one store. Agarwal said this was an outcome of ongoing rigorous store portfolio performance review and rationalisation process.
V-Mart Retail reported net sales of Rs 453.05 crore in June 2019 quarter, up 25.43 percent from Rs 361.20 crore in June 2018. Net profit for the latest quarter was Rs 17.60 crore, down 29.22 percent from Rs 24.87 crore in June 2018.
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