World Cup, IPL fever could lead to shortage of cricket gear

All over India, the afterglow of the World Cup win is yet to fade, even as the Indian Premier League gears up to start.  For businesses that manufacture cricket equipment like bats, balls, helmets and stumps, this growing cricket fever could cause supply problems.

Much of India's cricket equipment is manufactured by small businesses in two cities, Jalandhar in Punjab and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.  These companies sell products under their own brands and also supply to international brands like Slazenger, Puma, and Adidas.

Sales of cricket equipment usually zoom by 20-25 per cent come May, when school vacations start.  This year, businesses are expecting a demand spike of up to 40-50 per cent, which some of them say they aren't prepared to meet.

"It takes at least 5-6 months to process bulk orders from retail outlets and we have enough inventory to meet a 20-25% spike which was anticipated," says Paras Anand, who works for Sanspareils Greenlands, which owns the popular cricket equipment brand SG.  "But who knew that India will win the World Cup?  I don't think anyone in the industry would be prepared to meet this sudden spike."

Sanspareils Greenlands sold 12,000 bats by April of last year, says Anand.  This year, sales are expected to go up to 15,000 by the end of the month.

This year's spike in demand will be supported by three factors: India winning the World Cup, the Indian Premier League season starting shortly, and summer vacations in schools and colleges.

The sports equipment industry is not mechanized and is highly labour intensive. During peak season, workers work in multiple shifts to meet demand pressure.  "We will have to check our stocks. Normally every peak season, beginning April, we sell almost 1,000 bats per dealer. However, this time, the expected demand during the same time can be as high as 4,000 bats per dealer," says Gaurav Gupta of Greenland Enterprises.

Some manufacturers have their fingers crossed. SD Rishi, General Manager, FC Sondhi & Co. India, says, "One can begin to feel the vibes of a demand hike. However it is too early to figure out anything in terms of numbers.' The World Cup actually fell during the peak examination season, February to March, so it couldn't be as big a pull for school and college students. Whether this uplift in sentiment will translate into more purchases is still a skeptic guess."

As far as the IPL season is concerned, Rishi says, "There will be enough cricket fatigue after the World Cup and the IPL season won't really get much traction."

Some companies have not really benefited from significant increase in sales, but other spin-offs have helped. Jatin Sareen at Sareen sports, which sells equipment under the SS TON brand says, "We have definitely gained from international visibility for our brand, SS TON. MS Dhoni and five Sri Lankan players including Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara were using our brand for the World Cup."