Easy financing and lifestyle upgrades fuel appliance demand this festive season

Popular retail outlets showed healthy footfalls on the first day of the festive season. Retailers expect the momentum to continue until Deepavali in November. (File photo) | Photo Credit: MOORTHY G

Retailers in the consumer durable segment are expecting strong sales this festive season, despite a 5%-8% price increase in select products. Consumers are increasingly willing to stretch their budgets, moving beyond price-conscious purchases, with easy EMI options encouraging them to spend more, say retailers.

A visit to some of Chennai’s popular retail outlets showed healthy footfalls on the first day of the festive season, with retailers expecting the momentum to continue until Deepavali in November.

“Today (October 17), marked the first day of the festive season, and the numbers are looking better than they were last year. The growth has been good value-wise, but the sales numbers are low,” said Nitesh Giria, who heads Girias, a consumer durable retail chain. He further said that the price of mobile phones and many other products have gone up in the last six months.

Prices of important raw materials, including steel, copper, and aluminium, have gone up in the last few months. And this, in turn, has pushed manufacturers to increase prices.