Degrowth Rates Peak, Lockdown Relaxations Ineffective for Retail: Survey

The relaxations provided by Government in May 2020 were ineffective as retailers across the board continued to lose. Large size retailers (>300cr sales) in the food and grocery segment have witnessed 86 percent degrowth in business, while the non-food and grocery segment has seen a 75 percent degrowth compared to last year…

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No industry or individual has escaped unscathed from the lockdown, and retail lies at the very intersection. A recent survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) of more than 150 retailers – big and small, revealed that lockdown relaxations have done little to relieve the pain of the sector. A business assessment for the past 3 months (March, April and May 2020) shows severe degrowth in businesses across sectors and regions. During the stringent lockdown in April 2020 and May 2020 retailers lost around 80 – 90 percent of their last year sales.

KEY FINDINGS

The food and grocery segment witnessed 39 percent degrowth during the lockdown

The beauty, wellness and personal care segment faced a maximum 75 percent degrowth

Recording 81 percent degrowth rates, the western and southern regions were most impacted

Note: Figures represent a Y-O-Y comparison

Table 1: COVID-19 Lockdown severely impacted growth across geographies with acute impact in April and May

The relaxations provided by Government in May 2020 were ineffective as retailers across the board continued to lose. Large size retailers (>300cr sales) in the