Big fat Indian wedding season: Shaadi sales take a hit

It’s the big fat Indian wedding season, but the frenzied shopping plans are being reassessed and altered, thanks to the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. Jewellers, multi-designer store owners and make-up artists talk about the impact of the move on their sales this wedding season.

Jewellery is an integral part of the bride’s trousseau. While some jewellers admit that the move has led to a slump in jewellery sales, others say that it hasn’t affected their business greatly as much of the wedding shopping began well in advance.

Siddharth Garg, CEO of S2R Jewels & Jewellery, says, “As no wedding is complete without the purchase of jewellery, there hasn’t been much effect on sales. Previously we had been accepting cash from our clients but now all payments are strictly being made through debit cards.”

Sheena Agarwal, owner of multi-designer store Agashe, is hopeful that business will be back to normal soon. She says, “Our sales have dipped. But this is just a matter of time as people are still in the process of getting their money exchanged. Once it’s done, everything will be back to normal. It is just a short-term inconvenience that we all are facing and I’m hopeful about business getting back to normal soon.”

Fashion designer Isha Gupta Tayal, Label IGT, says that generally customers prefer to opt for cash transactions over debit or credit card dealings. “Very less percent of our population shops with debit and credit cards. Since the flow of hard cash will be slow for a while now, it is going to get tougher. But we appreciate the step taken as the hardships are temporary but the final results will lead to a better and brighter future for Indian youth.”

The make-up industry along side clothing and jewellery business is also taking a hit. Ratika Vaish and Mayank Batra, directors of Tantrums make-up studio in the capital share, “The demonetisation move at this time, especially when the wedding season is right here, has created a lot of chaos in the capital. This is the time when our business is in full swing. We have a booking of more than 50-100 brides this week. Many people are cancelling their requests for make-ups and banquets as they don’t have enough cash in their accounts and swiping a card is not possible. There is certainly a dip in the business this wedding season.”

Echoing a similar sentiment, make-up artist Pooja Goel shares, “I’m in support of this move, but I think they should have given us a little more time to get fully prepared. Currently, there have been cancellations for regular make-up routines and it doesn’t impact the business that much, but we are just keeping our fingers crossed since the shaadi season is right here, and we have lots of bookings and big payments coming our way. ”

On the contrary, the online shopping industry has seen their sales increase. Shivaani Jain, founder of Once Upon a Trunk, multi-retail fashion portal, puts forth, “People have not stopped shopping. Thanks to the online shopping boom in India, people are making prepaid payments, which is a great change for our business.”

Sanjay Kothari, vice chairman, KGK group dealing in jewels and gems adds, “Weddings scheduled for the coming 2-3 months would certainly be affected but as most  of the bookings are done with advance payments, inconvenience should be minimum.”