Demonetisation shadows over profit margins of retail companies

Demonetisation has curbed the spending power of consumers in a big way and the results are visible with companies posting their financial performance. The September quarter results announced by Shoppers Stop, Titan and Bata India are indicating the impact. Titan’s revenue declined 1 per cent, year-on-year. It derived as much as 74 per cent revenue from jewellery, which saw a very marginal below 1 per cent revenue growth. Higher prices took a toll on gold demand. Jewellery sales volume fell 32 per cent. Shoppers Stop Ltd’s reported 2.2 per cent like-to-like sales growth in department stores while like-to-like sales volume declined 3.1 per cent. Like-to-like sales growth is the comparable sales growth of stores that have been operational for at least a year.