Retail Sales Jump As Shoppers Snap Up Black Friday Deals
Top executives that BQ Prime spoke with estimated Black Friday sales to be 20–50% higher than the pre-Covid period.
Bargain hunters shopped online and offline in the last weekend of November as Black Friday buying catches on in India.
The day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. is Black Friday, marking the beginning of the Christmas season. Shopping spree driven by attractive deals offer customers deep discounts, and help brands bump-up sales. In India, it coincides with festive season that kicks off with Navratri and lasts till Christmas.
Samsung, Victoria Secret, The Body Shop, Marks & Spencer, Adidas, and Xiaomi were among the many brands offered deals on Black Friday that fell on Nov. 25. Reliance Retail, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, and Vijay Sales, along with e-commerce platforms such as Nykaa, Myntra, Tata CLiQ, and Amazon, too, lured shoppers with offers.
Top executives that BQ Prime spoke with estimated Black Friday sales to be 20–50% higher than the corresponding pre-Covid period in 2019 even as inflation and sagging consumer sentiment has eroded demand this festival season.
Shopping malls such as DLF Retail, Delhi's Select CityWalk, and Quest Mall in Kolkata pegged the Black Friday sales at 40–50% higher.
Nykaa's Pink Friday
Nykaa said its sale, dubbed 'Pink Friday', reported a 12-fold jump in revenue on Friday, with 57% of the purchases made by shoppers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. "Apart from metros, the highest orders came from Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Jammu," it said.
The Black Friday sale also coincided with the ongoing wedding season. Categories such as skincare, makeup, and haircare were top sellers, with luxury brands seeing a 20-fold jump in sales on the first day compared to regular days. Overall, Nykaa said it recorded eight lakh orders—over 400 orders every single minute—a growth of 40% from last year’s Pink Friday.
Arzooo Sales Surge in Tier-2 Cities
Retail technology platform Arzooo has seen a surge of 400% in appliance categories driven by tier-2 cities.
"This surge is a testament to the fact that people in non-metros always purchase smartly, availing good discounts," said Khushnud Khan, CEO and co-founder of the company that helps offline retailers compete with online sellers by leveraging digital inventory. Currently, Arzooo empowers more than 50,000 retailers in India, according to its website.
Luxury Retail Sales Spike
Tata Cliq Luxury indicated a 60–70% growth over last year.
"This year, we have witnessed tremendous growth and have expanded our portfolio further with the introduction of several new brands and categories. We believe that the uptake in shopping will continue with the wedding, Christmas, and new year's seasons," said Gitanjali Saxena, business head of Tata CLiQ Luxury.
Brands like Armani Exchange, BOSS, Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, and Tommy Hilfiger had offers ranging from 10–50%. "Brands such as Aldo, Dune London, Hoka, and Steve Madden in the footwear category were up to 40–50% off," said Saxena.
In the watch category, brands like Fossil, Earnshaw, Just Cavalli, Maserati, and Michael Kors offered up to 50% off.
Sales of Brune & Bareskin, a luxury leather brand, were 25% higher this Black Friday as compared to last year, according to Tabby Bhatia, director of the company.
Sales this year were up by about 20% compared to last year for denimwear brand Numero Uno Clothing Ltd.
"This year's sales in India were strong as shoppers were looking to take advantage of discounts while they could," said Ramesh Kapoor, chief financial officer of Numero Uno Clothing.