Retail sales slump in Jan, at 91% of pre-pandemic levels

The retail sales in January 2022 suffered losses by 91 per cent as compared to the pre-pandemic sales levels of January 2019, as well as that of January 2020.

In its latest business survey, Retailers Association of India (RAI) said that the retail sales have dropped due to the restrictions imposed by states to curb the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

In terms of region, East zone witnessed the biggest drop last month with a 13 per cent decline, as compared to January 2019, followed by West at 11 per cent decline and North with a drop of eight per cent.

“South zone was the least impacted registering a two per cent decline, as compared to January 2019,” RAI said.

Category-wise, beauty, wellness and personal care was the worst hit, with a drop of 24 per cent as compared to January 2019, followed by furniture and furnishing with a drop of 12 per cent, and apparel and clothing registering a decline of seven per cent.

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However, the jewellery segment grew by 11 per cent in January this year, as compared to the same month in 2019, and quick-service restaurants also witnessed a growth of nine per cent.

RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan said that most of the states across the country have allowed retail businesses to be open till late hours, as COVID-19 cases and hospitalisation rates decline steadily across the country.

However, Rajagopalan said that Delhi and Haryana are still not allowing stores to be open till late, which is creating a big impact on businesses while not helping solve the crowding issue.

“We do hope that Delhi and Haryana take a leaf from states like Maharashtra and allow all formats of retail to be open till late and be in consonance with practices across the country to accelerate the return to normalcy,” Rajagopalan said.

(With inputs from agencies)