Slow down ! really ?
Considering that everyone is talking about the slowdown of the economy but its another matter that when you visit restaurants , movie theatres these days the rush has just not stopped ,so one is left wondering where is the slowdown ? to add to the chaos .. today's newspaper even talks about how luxury brands are expanding operations in India and seeing a sales growth !
So then what is the slowdown we are talking about , maybe there is a part of India which is for sure effected ,and a size able part of the country which is immune from whatever happens , remember we still are a savings driven country , don't have data on how much do we have staked up in our banks , plus don't ignore the black money , and of course we have poor politicians not even having cars ! at least that's what they declare !our reading is that no one knows the real story- its honestly beyond the common man , however the common man reads it as pressure in his work place , the bad news about the pink slips ,etc ...
one thing is for sure the best antidote against Slowdown is the Sensex , as when it rises there is a feel good factor that is all encompassing and this tends to turn the tide over even though a majority of the common man don't understand the sensex !
The other remedy for slowdown is consumption over drive maybe the rush in the restaurants etc is the middle class way of showing there determination to beat the slowdown !
Switching to the retail space ,the premium retailer segment is surely feeling the heat , suddenly there is thrust on operational efficiencies and discipline gone is the expand expand mode ! , we have seen cases of stores converting spaces into store rooms ( at least there is an electricity save + store room charge savings ) as mentioned in an earlier post , private labels are back in fashion , to drive more margins per customers , ie provided the customer buys them ! also the old adage of selling more per customer is back in fashion again .
Come whatever , life moves on with one set of consumers which doesn't have the effect of the slowdown and another having it , what say ? ...Keep moving( walking ) , Mr Walker you must be enjoying these gloomy days !!
Comments