Amid localised lockdowns, retailers' unanimous call to open all shops till 9 PM

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The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has submitted representations to state & local authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka requesting for removal of timing restrictions that have been imposed in some regions derailing smooth operations, Kumar Rajagopalan, Chief Executive, RAI said.

“The need of the hour is concerted efforts by all stakeholders — while retailers are doing their bit by following stringent hygiene practices, the policymakers too need to support to ensure economic revival across the country. Consumption is important for the country and supports the business environment,” said Rajagopalan.

Voicing the concerns of the retailers, RAI, has submitted representations to various state & local authorities that puts forth recommendations to get businesses and life of consumers on the track to recovery.

RAI has four demands:

- To mandatorily allow essential shops including kiranas, general trade shops, supermarkets, hypermarkets & wholesalers to operate every day of the week until 9 PM to cater to the daily needs of the customers.

- Ensuring uniform and regular opening of all categories of retail for full working hours while following stringent hygiene practices and adhering to social distancing norms. This will help avoid overcrowding outside stores as demand will get distributed over all days of the week.

- Allow movement of staff and vehicles of commodities without taking coercive action against the staff.

- Open malls in all states. Malls can ensure a safe shopping experience wherein safety measures are taken by both—the mall authorities and the retailers.

Retailers feel, ad-hoc local lockdowns is detrimental to recovery of Indian economy.

The total lockdowns in some places and limited operational hours and days in several others are creating setbacks for retailers as the already stressed retail businesses are getting further interrupted and in turn dampening consumer sentiment.

Although the intentions are that of citizen safety and social distancing, the recent instances of local lockdowns and ad-hoc restrictions being imposed in UP, Maharashtra, AP and Karnataka are making a distressing impact on retail businesses, retailers said.

The recent Retail Business Survey conducted by RAI indicated that retailers witnessed 67 percent degrowth from June 15 to June 30, 2020 compared to the corresponding period last year.

During the same time frame, malls witnessed 77 percent degrowth (y-o-y) on account of not being allowed to open uniformly across the country, high street retail showed degrowth of 62 percent (y-o-y) in business despite being allowed to open across India.

Region-wise findings indicated that West (-74% y-o-y) and North (-71% y-o-y) continue to suffer the most. East and South both signalled a 62% (y-o-y) fall in sales.

These numbers depict a grim situation for not just retailers but the entire economy as retail is the backbone of consumption.

Retailers are already facing huge setbacks in terms of payment of wages and rentals due to very low sales of about 40 percent as compared to last year.

The restrictions imposed by States Governments are further compounding the situation and posing significant operational issues.

Retailers complained that the restricted hours of operations, stoppage of staff and goods vehicle has resulted in hindered supply chains and skewed buying patterns.

Shops being allowed to open for shorter number of hours leads to crowding because demand is inelastic. This is detrimental to social distancing. It is also creating a havoc on the supply side affecting availability of goods.

Sandeep Kataria, CEO, Bata India said, “Restricted shopping time can lead to unnecessary overcrowding of stores, which is unfavourable towards the personal safety of both store staff and customers. Longer operational hours will support recovery for retailers as well as help adhering to social distancing norms.”

The ad-hoc restrictions that keep changing create confusion about what is allowed and what is not. This is resulting in law enforcement stopping goods vehicles and employees from reaching stores creating supply chain and staffing issues.

Disrupted by the local lockdowns and restrictions Arvind Mediratta, MD and CEO, METRO Cash & Carry India, said, that the decision to close all stores on weekends in Uttar Pradesh and to reinforce a stringent lockdown in Bengaluru is going to severely impact business.

“These lockdowns will create severe inconvenience for all citizens as they also bar operations of food and grocery retail and wholesale stores. We have been at the forefront of implementing rigorous safety measures in all our stores and have been very successful in making them 100 percent safe for both for employees and customers. Therefore, we would request the governments of both Karnataka and UP to allow unhindered operations of food and grocery retail and wholesale stores,” he added.

All of this is causing gross inconvenience to customers who have to deal with erratic access to essentials.

Himanshu Chakrawarti, CEO, Arvind Lifestyle Brands said, “Customer convenience and preventing of crowding are both served best by having regular retail timings. Odd even dates or few hours trading time inconveniences customers and also results in crowding. Request the local authorities to take a larger contextual view and issue notifications with more stable working days and timings to ensure customer safety and convenience.”