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A Christmas sans sales bonanza
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 25 December 2008, 19:17 IST |
1 Comments
Bangalore: Every year, Xmas season brings a sales bonanza for sellers, who will be all out there in the market with unprecedented offers during this period. But this Christmas has bucked the trend with many businesses witnessing sharp declines in the sale, due to the looming recession.
Many Americans have even selected the Christmas day to make their kids experience the pressure of recession by cutting down on celebrations. For retailers, even last minute sales on the day before Christmas could not save them. "It is beyond the worst fears of retailers," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group. A lot is at stake. The holiday shopping season accounts for as much as 40 percent of annual profits for many retailers, and the earnings outlook is growing more dire every week, he added.
Back in India, a lull that was witnessed at the beginning of this shopping season have been still daunting shoppers with cautious customers not coming off guard to make massive purchases. But local retailers are not fazed by the existing situation and huge sales the national chains were running. It is because, they claims, they offered a niche market and personal service, which kept customers coming back.
It is recession in greeting space also. But one needs to think whether technology has got something to do with lower sales of greeting cards. Praveen Kumar, Manager, Colorful Cards in Bangalore, says that sale of cards is 65 to 70 percent down this year compared to last year. "The trend of people using text messages and emails to send greetings to their relations is a reason for the dismal sale. However the looming recession fears also has its role in crippling the sales. This time, we got only six or seven corporate orders for greeting cards. Last year it was around 40," he says.
Blanch Demello, Proprietor, Grace Gift Center, Bangalore, says, "We have noticed a 20 percent dip in card sales compared to last year. The recession is the main reason for this. Though today's youth have all the technological means to greet their friends and relatives, people still want to send cards in their hand writing. So, greeting cards will remain alive for many years to come."
Sales in electronic gadgets, especially PCs, also witnessed a dip. "This time we had put up many innovative offers but did not yield expected result. I think festival seasons like Christmas is lacking its influence on sales when recession is staring the whole economy," Says Shenthil Kumar, Sales Manager at a computer shop in the city.