Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Q2 and H1 FY2026 earnings conference call of Shoppers Stop Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pratik Patil from Dentsu Creative Investor Relations Team. Thank you and over to you, Mr. Patil.
Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for joining us on the Shoppers Stop Q2 and H1 FY2026 earnings conference call. Today, we have with us the Senior Management represented by Mr. Kavindra Mishra, Customer Care Associate, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Karunakaran Mohanasundaram, Customer Care Associate, Chief Financial Officer. We will begin the call with the opening remarks from the management, after which we will have the forum open for the interactive Q&A session. I must remind you that the discussion in today's earnings call may include certain forward-looking statements and must be viewed, therefore, in conjunction with the risk that the company faces. Please restrict your questions to the quarter performance and to strategic questions only. Housekeeping questions can be dealt with separately with the IR team. I would now request Mr. Kavindra Mishra for the opening remarks. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Pratibh. Good evening all. I have with me Karunakaran, our CFO, JP, our FP&A lead, and Rohit, our IR lead. Biju, our Beauty CEO, will join me during the questions and answer session. We have uploaded the investor presentation on our corporate and in-stock exchange website. As you observe, our investor presentation has three major divisions: our core businesses, new businesses which we have invested in the last two years, and our distribution business, which again we started in the last couple of years. Before I discuss the above in detail, let me start with the operating environment. Q2 was marked by sluggish growth in certain discretionary categories and consumer goods. The urban consumer was cautious due to inflationary concerns and geopolitical uncertainties. In addition to this, we also had an overhaul of GST amendments, which I believe in the long run will enable growth.
Despite external challenges such as GST implementation and other market challenges, Shoppers Stop has successfully stayed ahead of the curve. This is primarily due to our focused premiumization strategy and other key initiatives which have strengthened our market position and have driven sustainable growth. As I begin the journey of Shoppers Stop 's performance summary, I will focus my speech on core categories, new businesses, and lastly, I will also cover our distribution business. Let me start with our core business performance. Two years ago, we made a deliberate and strategic decision to shift our focus towards premiumization. We started this sporadically from 2020, but this time it was a complete shift.
At the time, this meant rethinking our product mix, enhancing the in-store experiences, refining our brand positioning, and leaning into what we knew customers were starting to demand: a better quality, more aspirational products, and a retail experience that reflects that value. This wasn't just a cosmetic change. It required investments in everything from merchandising and sourcing to marketing and frontline staff training. We knew it would take time to show results, but we also knew that this was the direction our customers and the market were heading towards. Now we are starting to see the clear results of that strategy. Our high-end categories are outperforming expectations, the average transaction values are increasing, and we are attracting a more engaged, loyal consumer base. Importantly, this shift is not at the expense of volume.
We are maintaining healthy traffic and seeing stronger conversions, especially among shoppers who are looking for elevated value and experience. I am confident that this is just the beginning. We are now in a stronger position to scale this approach further across categories, channels, and regions, and we are confident that this will continue to drive both top-line growth and profitability. Our team is energized, our customers are responding, and we are committed to building on this momentum in the quarters ahead. The journey isn't over. In fact, we believe we are just beginning to unlock the full potential of premiumization. The early successes we are seeing reinforce our conviction in the strategy and our confidence in the direction we are heading and building the brand level through purposeful engagement. Let me give you some snippets and the results of what we did.
We continue to strengthen emotional resonance with our customers through our proprietary brand IPs such as India Aware with Shoppers Stop, Gifts of Love, and Showstoppers 25. These platforms have been instrumental in creating deeper connections, resulting in higher engagement and retention. The premiumization journey is well underway. We have enhanced the in-store experience with upgraded service and launched aspirational brands across categories. Our personal shoppers continue to redefine convenience and personalization. This segment alone now contributes to 25% overall sales, a growth of 300 plus basis points. Our private brands, including Stop, Kashish, and Bandeya, are no longer just an option; they are a preferred choice. In fact, all three of them rank among the top 10 apparel brands during this festive season.
Our First Citizen Club now stands stronger than ever, with 13 million members contributing to a staggering 83% of total sales, which is up 270 basis points. We have seen the highest quarterly enrollments in our history. Engagement is deeper, with 69% repeat purchases and strong adoption of black cards, around 32,000, and silver cards, 208,000 memberships, including renewals. The results are evident. Our core business has solid results, a turnaround in motion. Let me share the numbers that reflect our execution strength. The customer entry increased by 6% like-for-like, a positive for the first time in many years. Our key KPIs continue to rise. ATV is up by 8%, driven both by ASP, by 6%, and IPTs by 2%. Overall sales rose by 7%, with departmental store like-for-likes at 9.4%, the highest in the last 10 years. Beauty continues to outperform, up 22%, with fragrances leading the charge.
Watches and handbags recorded strong double-digit growth of 13% and 11%, respectively. The premium product mix grew at 16%, contributing to a 375 basis points gain and now accounting for 69% of total mix. On our financial results of core business, which are due by 42%, and more importantly, our profit before tax turned from losses to profit. That is from a loss of INR 12 crore to a profit of INR 9 crore, an improvement of INR 21 crore. Q2 was a demonstration of Shoppers Stop Limited's resilience, agility, and brand strength. Our premium positioning, omnichannel model, and customer-centric strategy helped us to outperform the market. From our core business, let me shift to our new businesses, which are in the investment mode.
We would like to take this opportunity to update you on the progress of our new businesses, Intune, which is our value fashion format, and SSBeauty.in, our digital-first beauty platform. Both ventures are currently in the investment phase, and as expected at this stage, they are incurring planned losses. However, we are confident that these are strategic investments that will drive long-term value and significantly enhance Shoppers Stop Limited's growth trajectory. Let me talk about Intune, which is where we are trying to build a value fashion powerhouse. Intune was launched to tap into the high-growth value fashion segment, catering to a younger aspirational demographic. While still early in its lifecycle, we are pleased to share that Intune delivered a positive like-for-like growth in Q2 from a negative like-for-like growth in Q1, which is a strong validation of its value proposition and consumer acceptance.
We are continuing to expand footprint and optimize this product mix and pricing to drive efficiency and scale. Though operating losses have increased due to front-loaded investments in store openings, marketing, and backend infrastructure, these are deliberate and controlled spends aligned with our long-term vision. Let me talk about SSBeauty.in, which is to create a distinctive beauty destination. At SSBeauty.in, we are building a differentiated digital-led beauty ecosystem with a focus on curated offerings, personalization, and experiential engagement. The objective is to build a strong brand identity and connect with a wider, younger audience, complementing our offline beauty business. While initial investments in technology, marketing, and customer acquisition are impacting short-term profitability, these are strategic outlets to build a high-margin, scalable business. We are already seeing stronger customer engagement, a growing user base, and encouraging repeat behavior.
We want to reiterate that both Intune and SSBeauty.in are in the early stages of their lifecycle, and short-term losses are not indicative of their potential. As with all our businesses, we are following a disciplined investment approach with clear milestones and robust tracking to ensure sustainable scale-up. We are confident that these businesses will turn profitable as the scale and operating leverage kicks in. They are strategically aligned with Shoppers Stop 's long-term vision of becoming the most trusted and innovative omnichannel retailer. Let me talk about the distribution business. I'm pleased to share that our beauty distribution business, operated through Global SS Beauty, has delivered outstanding performance in Q2, growing by an impressive 103% year-on-year. This marks a significant milestone in our strategic focus on beauty as a high-potential growth engine for Shoppers Stop d. Our key performance indicators across the board are trending positively.
This reflects the strength of our operating model, growing consumer demand, and our ability to execute with agility. During the quarter, GS B successfully introduced several new and exclusive brands to the Indian market, enhancing our premium beauty portfolio and further differentiating our offering. These additions not only deepen customer engagement but also reinforce our leadership in the aspirational beauty segment. Looking ahead, we remain confident in the continued momentum of our beauty business and are committed to sustained growth through strategic partnerships, digital acceleration, and further store expansion. Let me talk about capital allocation. For reasons beyond our control, opening of new departmental stores was delayed this quarter. We'll be opening five departmental stores this quarter and four to five in Q4.
On Intune, we had opened three stores in Q2, and we expect to open five stores in Q3, and we are planning to open between eight to ten stores in Q4. Our working capital is reduced by INR 63 crore in Q2. Now let me give you the guidance on the key strategic focus areas. As we enter the critical festive and wedding season in Q3, we are well stocked and strategically merchandised. The consumer demand indicators are positive, particularly in premium and wedding categories. We anticipate double-digit growth momentum to continue, driven by early festive demand, upswing in beauty and fashion categories, particularly in beauty, wherein it's in the peak quarter for them, and the ongoing omnichannel marketing campaigns. Shoppers Stop is no longer just a departmental store.
It is becoming a premium lifestyle destination, but one that understands, serves, and celebrates the Indian customer like no one else. In closing, Q2 was a demonstration of our ability, resilience, agility, and brand strength. Our premium positioning, omnichannel model, and customer-centric strategy helped us to outperform the market. We are confident that we will continue to deliver sustainable, profitable growth while delighting our customers and creating long-term value for our shareholders. As I conclude, my team and I wish everyone a very happy Diwali and a great festive season. I'm happy to have the questions along with my team. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question comes from the line of Sameer Gupta with India Infoline. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening and thanks for taking my question. First of all, congratulations on a good set of numbers. Firstly, your comment on the value fashion as a segment, which is seeing moderation. As an industry construct, what really is happening over here? Like even the likes of the market leader here or the largest player here, we are seeing some moderation over there. Is it that broad uptick in consumer sentiments? There is a shift happening from value to more premium and just wanted some color on the overall industry dynamics, sir.
Thank you, Sameer. Great question. There are two parts to it. One is, see, if we talk about, and without commenting on the market leader, let me talk about Intune. As we expanded and as we grew our business, we also realized that we need to strengthen our supply chain. We need to strengthen the operation efficiency of the business. What we have seen, and as I mentioned, we have seen growth from Q1 to Q2, and what we are also seeing is that the current festive is also very, very strong. While there has been a moderation maybe for other players, we are seeing that once we are improving our operational efficiencies, we are seeing an uptick in demand. In fact, the festive looks very, very strong for Intune as we speak in the month of October.
You know what we also feel is that at the end of the day, while customers will migrate from organized, as you know, from other segments of organized to the value segment, we also see that a lot of value is happening when customers are migrating from unorganized to organized. I think that aspirational Indian is always there, and that journey will continue to keep on happening. I don't see any issue happening there. I think it's for each of us as brands to see what is it that was driving us before and what changes we need to ensure that we need to make to ensure that the growth continues. For Intune, I'm very confident as we have driven changes and as we have taken things forward, things are improving.
Got it, sir. Your broad comment on slowness in value fashion impacting growth, that is more of a one-off, you believe?
Yes, as I mentioned, we are seeing a very, very strong festive.
Got it, sir. That's helpful. Second question is, sir, you've given a slide on the EBITDA margins or EBITDA sales, EBITDA, etc., for the core and the non-core businesses. I'm just looking at the EBITDA margin for the core business on the non-GAAP sales, which is coming to around 3.3% in the first half. I understand there is some seasonality in 3Q being the largest quarter, but it is still quite low versus our guidance of a mid to high single-digit kind of a margin that is the aspiration, at least in the medium term. I just wanted to understand. I understand the losses in Intune, etc., might continue, but even the core, how do we get to that mid to high single-digit level in the medium term?
Sameer, thanks. Karuna here. I hope you can hear me. That's a great question. Normally, what happens is Q1 and Q2 are relatively sort of a slack season, and Q3 is the one which drives a significant amount of sales. The guidance we have given should still hold because in retail, the fixed expenses are fixed. To that extent, the margins for both Q1 and Q2 are lower primarily because of that. With the sales improving in Q3, one, because of season, Diwali festive, and second, because of the end-of-season sale that starts in the month of December, we should be able to see a mid-single-digit EBITDA margin for, or slightly better than mid-single-digit EBITDA margin for the core business, Sameer.
For 3Q, I can understand, but for a full year?
I'm talking for the full year. With that, we should be able to see for the full year a good EBITDA margin.
This 3.3% for the first half is broadly in line with your own expectations. It is not running on the lower side. That's the broad understanding?
Yes. Yes.
Got it. That's good.
Yeah.
Great. That's all for me. I'll come back in the queue for follow-ups. I wish you a very happy Diwali in the meantime.
Thank you, Sameer.
Thank you, Sameer. Thanks.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Ashutosh Joytiraditya with ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. My first question would be on the value fashion. The question which the earlier participant asked, just in continuation to that, if you think that the festive demand seems to be good and everything looks okay in the value fashion, then why are we not getting more aggressive on store opening front in Intune business?
Ashutosh, you know if we just go back last quarter and we speak about our guidance, we were talking about a 30 - 40 store opening plan for Intune, right? At that time, we were also reworking on our supply chain and a 2.0 version of Intune where we were doing some changes on our store, the way they look and feel, because that's the feedback we got from our consumers. As we speak, we have been able to do those changes, and we are seeing the aggression in terms of the sales densities, right? There's always a cycle of opening of stores in terms of getting the right properties and then getting those stores up. What we have put in our commentary is something which we are 100% sure of. You will see that as the numbers pick up, that aggression will also come in.
I'm not worried about that. For us, the important thing was that while we were expanding, we figured out there are a few things which we need to work on and improve upon, which we have done now. The early October results are fantastic. I think we'll keep on building on those and keep on. I think as I had put in my commentary, this is a long-term strategic investment for us. We are not shying away from it, but we just wanted to be 100% sure that the changes which we have made start giving the results which we wanted. That's why you see a little bit of a slowdown against what we had said before.
Okay. Sir, just to reconfirm, like what I have understood is that because of these changes, there was some slowness, particularly in the value fashion segment for your company because other value retailers like Wemart, they have actually given a decent set of same-store sales growth. That was the only issue, and the rest all things are fine for the company.
Yes. As I mentioned, from a double-digit big growth like-for-like in Q1, we have moved to a positive territory in Q2. We are seeing a much higher number in, it's too early, but we are seeing very, very strong numbers in October as we speak. We believe as a team, operating team, that we have been able to understand the customer feedback, work on it quickly, and I think the results are showing now. I can't comment on Wemart and everybody else because they have been in business for a while. We are very young and very new in this thing, but I think whatever has to be done, we are doing that continuously and improving. Quite confident of whatever numbers we have put there.
Okay. Sure, sure, sure. The second thing on this core business, it is mentioned that the LFL was 9.4%. What I can understand is that this result, as you said in the opening remark, was mostly because of the changes or the focus areas strategy which the management has decided. It is actually giving results to the company. Is that only because of this, or in general in the premium side of the apparel business as a whole, you are seeing some customer shifts happening? Is there any trend which is observed there?
Yeah. I think it's a great question. We definitely see the premiumization as a very strong trend. We also believe that vis-à-vis other players in the business, whether it is brands or formats, we are gaining a higher market share because our proposition of being the house of brands, being curated, being very, very strong in non-apparel beauty, I think those things are very differentiated. Obviously, we loaded all of it with great personalized service through a personal shopper. I think all that is coming strong, very, very strong. I must say our private brand business actually, and you know in so many calls, we have been saying that private brands are not about only selling more. It's about selling in the right way and in a premium way. I think it's really playing.
Out of the 500 brands we have in apparel in this festive, we see that our private brands are among the, like three of them are among the top 10, which shows the kind of work which the team has done and has been able to connect with the consumer and what they want.
Right, right. Understood. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thanks a lot for this. Wish you a happy Diwali to you and the team.
Ashutosh, wishing you from our side as well to you and your family.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Ankit Kedia with Philip Capital. Please go ahead.
Sir, in Intune, we saw 1% like-for-like growth. If you adjust for early festive, probably it's negative this quarter as well. You did mention supply chain changes you have done. If you could share some examples, what were the challenges in the last two years and how you have tried to mitigate that and what changes have you done in Intune, it would be helpful.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Ankit, for Intune specifically because they hardly have any presence in the East. The early festive didn't materialize for them. It was not a strong number for them.
Hyderabad is a big market, probably.
No, true, true. Hyderabad is a big market, but we also have a very strong presence in North and Gujarat. All of them got heavily hit by the Sharq also coming in between. For Intune, that number is not that much of a difference. I think in supply chain, as you rightly said, there were a lot of things in getting our supply lines stronger, getting the whole consumer promise of getting a weekly drop, ensuring that the density in the stores also increased because we went with a certain set of estimation in terms of inventory. When we also looked at, I spoke to the customers and got their feedback. I think we increased the choices. I think a lot of work happened on the store facade. We changed the fixtures in our stores. The brightness, the lux levels have also increased.
I think a lot of work has happened across getting the right partner, getting the frequency of delivery stronger, and also on the basis of the fixture and the way the stores looked and feel. I think that has started adding results to us, Ankit, and we are now building on that piece and working on that.
Awesome. Last quarter, Devang had mentioned that by end of FY2026, we should be break-even at the store level. Given the losses what we have this quarter, are you confident that at least at store level, Intune should break even in FY2026?
Ankit, when you say FY26, are you referring to March 2026, Ankit?
Yes, yes.
No, very unlikely it will happen. While the first half, we have reported losses, in the second half, we are working on a number of initiatives to reduce the losses to almost half. That being the case, in FY2026, we don't expect at the store level to break even. Probably in FY2027, we will be very, very close to break even. We may not be able to break even, but we'll be very close to break even in FY2027 at the store level.
That will be year three at store level break even for Intune.
That's right.
Sure. My second question is for the departmental store. Stores opening continues to remain muted with a 10-year high like-for-like growth for the quarter. Don't you think we need a revision of store opening? What is taking us back to not opening stores in the departmental store despite strong footfall growth and like-for-like growth?
I would love to open, I would love to double the store opening. I think when we started this year, we were looking at around six to seven stores. The visibility which we have, we have increased it to nine. We will keep on looking at the properties because typically, these are larger stores, Ankit. For example, we had a plan to open four stores in Q2 only, right? Because of approvals, policies, various things, they got delayed. In fact, we are opening now the two stores which we were planning to open in Q2 are opening. One of them is opening in Ludhiana by the end of this weekend, other in another week's time in Hyderabad. The ability to turn around a departmental store is a variable which is not completely in our hands.
Having said that, I think we should, we will have between 9 to 10 stores between Q3 and Q4.
Are these 9 to 10 gross stores or net stores coming for the year?
Okay. For the year, can I just take a break? I just need to have some water, just a sec.
Sure, sure, sure.
These are net stores. I think we are looking at not many closures or no closures at all as we speak.
Sure. Second question on departmental stores is, you know, what is leading to this high single-digit like-for-like growth? Is it early festive years as well, which aided growth for us? Is the momentum for the second half very strong, led by certain brands, certain categories? You did mention premium product grew at 14% versus 9% overall for departmental stores. What kind, because other companies are not talking of this number, what we have reported. Just wanted to, you know, double-click to see, is it sustainable or it's one-time near double-digit growth?
Okay. Ankit, what a question. Now, if you look at it continuously from Q3 last year, we have been around 5% to 6% or 4% to 5% like-for-like growth, right? When we entered into Q2 this year, we have shown a 9.4%. My July growth is around 6%, 6.5%. My August actually is around 10%, and so is September. What I'm saying is it is not only related to the festive early coming in. That's one. Second, as we enter and as we have entered into October, one of the fears was that October was where the festive had got preformed. What we are seeing is that October is showing some incredible numbers of growth. To be honest, I have not seen these kinds of growth numbers in detail for a very, very long time. I think as a team, we are pleasantly surprised. Now, how is it coming through?
It is coming through, one, increase in customer entry. Customer entry is really, really growing very, very high. We had a 6% like-for-like growth for the complete quarter. It is at a higher level now as we speak. That is one. Second is we are seeing a growth in our premium portfolio. As you rightly said, 14% is the growth for our premium portfolio, and for overall, it is 9%. It is obviously over-indexed on that. That card, which is the heart of our program, or whether it is the silver, I think the card system is really working well. The personal shoppers, and I remember seven to eight quarters back when we started talking about this, there were questions around that card means higher, the personal shoppers mean higher cost. The investments which we have made then are now playing through.
Any strategy which we do, once it takes time to execute, but I think we are in the execution stage now. It is the first stage of execution, and I think this will keep on getting built. My sense is that while we have always been conservative in talking about growth and giving estimates, Q3 will continue to be very, very strong. October, the post-Dashera, currently as we speak, we are double-digit like-for-like growth, more than what we also did in September. These are very, very strong numbers. We don't see them as one-off.
Sure. My last question is on the beauty portfolio. While we have seen strong growth in the beauty distribution business, and it continues to be at a 400-plus curve or 108, in the core EBOs and in shop-in-shop, we are not seeing growth there, right? While last quarter we did allude to high discounting, now it's been like multiple quarters that the growth in the EBOs in beauty is just not happening, or it's below the company average. Is there a thought process what we are doing here should change, or we will just let the market forces dictate terms and just sit on the sidelines here?
Hi. This is Biju here. To your question, the first point is that retail has posted mid-single-digit positive growth. If you look at it, for us, the premiumization as a journey is doing extremely well on the prestige segment. You can see that the prestige segment is doing far ahead of the overall beauty. Acknowledge the fact that at the mastich level, the pressures still continue, and there is no different narrative. It's exactly similar to what has happened. We have decided to play on the expression, engagement, and education route, which is giving well on the prestige segment, and we continue to do well there, which is led by fragrances. Not letting go of the opportunity that may come through because at the end of the day, the bottom funnel is very important in terms of the premiumization journey.
We are clear that we need to have sustainable and profitable growth, and hence, we are focused on the prestige segment for the moment.
Biju, you have to just see two-year or three-year view on beauty. Do you think this category, X of distribution business, we can grow double-digit? Because last two years, we have not been able to grow double-digit in this category. It is a strong pillar of growth, a lot of capital being employed there. Actually, the performance is disappointing. Do you think next two to three years, you can turn it around and grow double-digit?
Look, the fact of the matter is beauty as a segment is quite overheated. We have to acknowledge the current landscape. If you think about it, early players who came into beauty driving business through EBOs at that time was a very profitable business. Maybe it's not a very profitable business at this stage. For us, what is a good possibility is because we have standalone, we have beauty standalone, that is EBO, brand EBO, beauty standalone, and also the SIS within the department store. I think it's not too difficult. Yes, on the standalone part, there is some strong headwinds, which we are mitigating because at the end of the day, the EBO business still excites consumers more from an engagement perspective and the larger assortment perspective, etc.
I think it's a bit of a combination of all the three elements, and we are fairly confident that we should get into this high single digits in the near future and move past that as well.
Sure, that's happened. Thank you so much, and happy Diwali to the team.
Happy Diwali.
Happy Diwali, Ankit. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Abhishek Shankar with ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to understand, post the GST reforms and whatever benefit has been given to the consumer, I just wanted to understand how much of it is being seen in the stores. Are people moving from lower value apparels to higher value apparels? Just wanted to understand from the industry perspective.
Abhishek, thanks for the question. Actually, we primarily operate in the premium segment, right? We have not seen any significant movement, large movement from lower to higher and vice versa. I think the general behavior, the way brands were working and the brands are being used before consumed by the customers, it continues to remain the same. We have not seen any specific benefit. I think it's the same thing. There's no change, if I can answer you.
Okay. How has been the general trend, you know? I mean, across? Has the GST?
Frankly, I am not sure that in the premium segment, there have been many changes. The brands and the categories which we operate primarily, there has been major impact of that, direct impact of that. Yeah?
Sorry, I couldn't hear you. I'm sorry.
I'm saying that there has been no major impact.
Oh, okay.
For us, yeah, we don't see that.
Okay. Thank you so much for my question and the answer. Happy Diwali to you. Thank you.
Happy Diwali. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Jay Prakash and Indu Jilmesthar. Please go ahead.
Good evening. First of all, thanks for taking my questions. I have been attending fifth state investor conference call for Shoppers Stop. From last year to this year, we have been reporting sales growth to our sales around INR 1,100 crore, plus or minus something. The share, I mean, the value for the return for the retail investor has been almost nearly negative growth. You have given negative return to the shareholders. I have been consistently asked for a dividend or any other thing. In the last five years, also, you haven't given anything. I asked many times that the debt level is also, it has not been reduced also. There is a promoter pledge for 9%. It's almost three years. In the future, is there any way to turn all these things positive and any value for our retail investors?
Jay Prakash, thanks. Thanks a lot for the question. Okay. Let me take one by one. Let's see. The retail has been impacted by the slowness the last two years, whereas this year, the Shoppers Stop performance, be it in Q1 and Q2, has been quite strong. We can't determine the market prices because there are a number of other reasons the market prices behave in a different way. As far as Shoppers Stop performance is concerned, our Managing Director, Kavindra Mishra, spoke in detail about three sectors, how the core has performed. In fact, the core has performed with a growth of 9%, with a strong growth in bottom line. We have also invested in the new business, Intune and SSBeauty.in, which, because of the investments, it has reported losses. Our 100% subsidiary Global SS B has grown by 103%.
We have the sales have grown, the profits have grown. Probably it will take some more time, even for the Intune and SSBeauty.in to either break even or reduce the losses. Overall, the Shoppers Stop performance will go up, will be better than what it is right now. That's all we can answer, Jay Prakash. I understand your concern about your.
Yeah, I would also understand your management. The thing is that whether it is seasonal or non-seasonal, our top line is reporting you are almost to that. That is the level. That is you are unable to break that INR 1,200 crore or above that level. It is for the fifth quarter, as I said now. Is there anything you could do, something innovative that you can increase that sales? You see, if you are not able to increase our sales, it means all other parameters which cannot be improved. Is that in the management mind?
I hear you.
This is Kavindra here. I'm going to.
We hear your concern. I think the growth which you have started seeing from this quarter is a significant signification of how we are going to go ahead. I'm quite confident that the growth numbers would come in very, very strongly. Please have some patience with us. I know that you, I understand and appreciate what you have said. As we go through this journey, you will see a much, much stronger Shoppers Stop. I'm sure you will not, you know, regret or be disappointed being with us. As a management team, we ask you for some more time and patience as we turn around the business and drive growth. You can see that in the last two quarters, we have started seeing this growth, and you will see this going forward. I'm really, really, really looking forward to how we perform in Q3.
I will request my team members to reach out to you for further explanation and any details you need.
What I will do, Jay Prakash, I mean, I will get your telephone number, and we will talk one-on-one with you, probably to understand further your concerns.
Thank you. Mr. Jay Prakash, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Tejesh Shah with Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, the government has kind of taken a big bite on reviving consumption for the last 15 months. Multiple interventions or initiatives that they have taken. Now, your numbers are kind of instilling some hope that they might be working. I just wanted to understand your read. Are you seeing any sentiment revival at the consumer level, or are these all our efforts which are actually leading us to gain market share and sentiment remains the same largely?
No, no, no. Tejesh, great question. No, I think it's a combination of both. It will be very wrong from our part to say that the sentiments are poor and it is only Shoppers Stop and it's the things which we are doing which is driving 9.4% like-for-like growth. I think it's a combination of both. You can maybe contribute 50% to both the factors. There's definitely a demand increase. As I was mentioning in my commentary before and to one of the questions, actually, especially over the last 7 or 10 days, the kind of run-up we are seeing to the festive. As a retailer and as a student of retail for the last 27, 28 years, I have seen this kind of pickup last in 2007, 2008. I think that it's very, very strong. It cannot happen only through what we are doing as an organization.
It comes through a function of both the things, whether it is the market sentiment being very strong, and that also reflects in the customer entry and people shopping more because as a business, we are able to provide more options and curated options. I believe it's a function of both. The market sentiments have definitely picked up.
Perfect. Sir, if we have to double-click on this and if you can share, as you said, as a student of retail also, are there any regional nuances here, A, and B, this optimism is visible in more footfalls, easier conversions, or is it that bill sizes are also increasing along with all this too?
Yes. I will answer all. Earlier, what used to happen, a particular region used to do well and not otherwise, right? Just to give you a sense, and I think it's a great question because while at these conferences or these discussions, we don't talk about it, I just wanted to share for the last three quarters, for Shoppers Stop , all the regions have grown. This is a broad-based growth. It is not that because Pujo came in September, East grew and others degrew. This growth is happening, A, across all the businesses and all the regions. I think that's wonderful. That can be cut across tier one, tier two metros both. It's not to say that the top five metros or cities are growing and others are not growing.
I think broad-based circular growth is what we are seeing across, and I think that gives a lot of confidence. That's one. Second, obviously, the footfall has gone up. The premiumization because of that, the ASPs, and we have mentioned that in our commentary as well, the ASPs have grown. I think the amazing thing is that the bills per items per transaction is also growing. If my ABV has gone up by 8%, ASP has grown up by 6%, and the IPT has grown up by 2%. We are actually seeing a mixture of people buying more and people buying more premium. Obviously, with the impact of the greater personalized service, the personal shopper, the curation which we have has helped us to gain and maybe additional market share. The fact is that there is a growth trend across.
What we really find encouraging is that the volume growths have come, which I think at a high ASP is very good.
Perfect, sir. Last follow-up here. The one nagging point for urban consumption, what we are picking up is that IT job creation has not happened, and they are very specific to certain urban locations. You are also well-interested in some of those locations. Any read-through there, or is it like it is not impacting as in the centers? You know the centers, Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Gurgaon. Are we seeing any pressure there, or they are also part of the circular growth that you just spoke about?
They are a part of circular growth. We see Hyderabad doing extremely well. We see that Bangalore is doing really well. To add to it, Pune, which was a struggling city for us for some time, has also picked up and Pune is doing well. Gurgaon does really, really well. At this point of time, as we speak, we don't see that pressure.
Sure. Sir, last one, a bit nagging, perhaps. When you talk to the mall owners, because we are part of many such formats where the footfall is organic also, do the mall owners say that we are doing disproportionately better than others, or we are actually part of that overall growth in general?
We are doing better than others. Disproportionately is an adjective which I would love to believe, but I think I should not believe in. I think we are doing better than others.
Perfect, sir. Very assuring. Thanks and all the best, and happy Diwali to the team.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sathik.
Happy, very happy Diwali.
Thank you. On behalf of Shoppers Stop Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.