In November, sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) witnessed the biggest slowdown in Maharashtra – followed by Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh – according to Bizom, a retail intelligence platform.
Bizom attributed this drop in sales to shopkeepers temporarily migrating to their hometowns during the festive season, followed by crop damage in these states on account of excess rainfall in the preceding months.
Overall, FMCG sales dropped 14.4% month-on-month in November, according to data sourced from Bizom, the platform tracking sales at 7.5 million retail stores. However, sales were up 10.4% year-on-year.
In Maharashtra, overall sales of packaged consumer goods dropped by over a third month-on-month while in Tamil Nadu the drop was 33%. In Madhya Pradesh, sales of FMCG were down 27.2% in November.
“During Diwali, a number of migrant small shop owners and workers visit their families back home impacting sales in the short term. During the monsoon season too, we saw many cases of farmers in big states like Maharashtra being impacted due to kharif crop damage. Post monsoon too, we're seeing excessive rainfall across the country which could cause trouble for harvesting of the Rabi crop and impact agriculture incomes,” Akshay D’Souza, chief marketing officer at Bizom said.
Six cities in Maharashtra, while two each in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were among the ten cities that reported the slowest pace of growth for fast moving consumer goods across India. These six cities in Maharashtra included Kolhapur, Solapur, Aurangabad, Aloka, Pune, and Nashik.
India has reported excessive rainfall since the beginning of October leading to crop damage in various regions. “As per IMD there has been a 45% departure in rainfall across India (1st Oct-21 - 20th Dec21). The three states where FMCG sales have been impacted have also been affected due to this,” Bizom said in its note.
In November, demand for categories such as home care as well as hygiene continued to drop year-on-year as active covid caseload reduced. Demand for such products was down 10.3% month-on-month in November.
Overall, Bizom’s data reported a month-on-month drop in FMCG sales on account of a drop in active kiranas. It also reported a “correction” in overstocking that happened in stores pre-Diwali , that is, in October.
D’Souza said that with the fear of the current omicron variant looming, the market could undergo a shift in consumption patterns where households favour more in-home consumption. This will depend on the intensity of the virus, it said.
Companies and market researchers are yet to report data for the December quarter.
For the September quarter, market researcher Nielsen IQ said that the FMCG industry reported a year-on-year value growth of 12.6%. Of this, volumes during the three months ended 30 September grew only 1.2% year-on-year with the industry witnessing a 11.3% price-led growth. The numbers reported a sharp decline sequentially. Demand for packaged consumer goods in India’s villages dwindled in the September quarter too as consumers bought less of or purchased cheaper cooking oils, packaged grocery, hot beverages and personal care products.
