& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

SHOPPING

Setting sights on Eid sales

Kawsar Khan
Mohammad Sabbir lazes out on a hot summer afternoon at his cosmetics and fashion accessories store at New Market. A sight to behold as he thrones in front of colourful commodities, stacked to the ceiling.
The 28-year-old is taken by surprise as he is asked if he had a few minutes to spare to comment on the state of business, aspirations and game plans that he held, in anticipation of Eid.
The hint of a frown on Sabbir's forehead reveals that despite his desire to grab a piece of the pie in the upcoming Eid market, he is uncertain about large returns.
Sabbir doubts his employer's ability to run the business and paying their monthly dues, with the present low sale margins. He however adds that they are optimistic that business performance would be better than before.
He reasons that an investment of Tk 10 lakh requires at least Tk 40,000 in total expenses a month, regardless of profits or losses. To facilitate smooth and modest business operations, an average daily sale of Tk 10,000 is required, but nowadays, sales revenue never crosses Tk 6,000-Tk 7,000 a day.
“Even though business was not satisfying in the past months, I expect Eid will bring a sea of change,” said Sabbir, who is employed at Riaz Cosmetics.
All small and medium shops that see huge demand for their products during Eid are preparing to recover their losses, which they said they had incurred through the past one year from the previous Eid.
Offering a large selection of makeup, skincare products, nail care items, footwear, bags, other lifestyle products, and
CD alburns, cosmetic accessories are always in demand by the fashion-conscience people of Dhaka.
Moving onto to another part of the city, the scenario is more of the same at bustling Bashundhara City Shopping Mall.
"Generally, sales increases ahead of the Eid festivities by three to ten times. However, actual sale margins will depend largely on how well a business can prepare for the festival,” said Zahir Alam Zakir, an executive of Jims Gallery, a cosmetics shop at Bashundhara.
He says cosmetics are so diverse and their models also change so frequently that products have a short shelflife and become obsolete resulting in a stockpile. Profits are positively correlated with the range of products available for sale, indicating that customers prefer options and choices.
In a bid to remain competitive, Zakir says he is scheduled to fly to Bangkok next week, as most items are now imported from China, Thailand and India.
He also chimes that all his fellow shopkeepers are waiting to profit from the Eid market, which is due to gain momentum after the 15th day of the month of Ramadan.
The mass volume of customers that flock to the market misleads people to believe that sales are very good for the shopkeepers. Ruhul Amin of Nagar Saree Bitan at the shopping complex clears ambiguity by reasoning that the presence of more than enough shops in the complex increases their competition.
He adds since relatively well off shoppers come to the complex, he is decorating his store with costly sarees, mainly embroidered silk sarees from India, mainly targeting the festival.
He states that Eid shopping
has already begun to some extent and will soon speed up after the end of this month, after people would get their monthly paycheque.
Amin also says a section of customers also prefers to avoid the Eid shoppers crowd. They shop early.
In the market for footwear, new designs have also started to arrive on the shelves of the shops. "We are getting attractive new footwear designs, mainly from China for Eid,” said Abdul Matin Bhuiyan, owner of Sundarban Shoes at New Market.
"In my shop, now more than 50 percent shoes are from China while it was not more than 10 percent five years ago." Chinese-made shoes have outshined local ones, he says.
Another salesman, Asaduzzaman of Laila Shoes in
the same market, says sales will obviously rise but they are not sure if they can make any substantial profits.
Reminiscing the past, Asad says, "We once sold products at high profit margins as people had more purchasing power, but now we have to sell products with minimal profits since customers pinch their pennies after meeting their day-to-day obligations, worsened by spiralling commodity prices."
In a not-so-related industry, Hasan Mahmud, proprietor of Surer Mela, a music production house, says they are making new audio music albums for the festival. People want to invest in new music albums during Eid and their sales will also increase, Mahmud says.
"Around three to four hundred new albums flood the
market during Eid," says Mahmud.
On the other hand, while shopkeepers are busy preparing to tackle the tsunami of Eid customers, travel and tour operators share a positive stance. They already have handsome bookings for holiday packages for the upcoming Eid holidays.
“The rush for travel during the Eid vacation is so intense that all the standard hotels and motels in Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, St Martin's and Sundarbans have already been booked in advance, until 15 days after Eid, says Taufiq Rahman, chief executive of Journey Plus, a tour operator.
This year Eid is expected to take place at the end of next month.
"All our offers for Eid has attracted a huge response,”
says Rahman, adding that after Eid, his company will operate tours of 300 to 400 people to the domestic tourist spots and 150-200 people to overseas countries.
As the trend for the Bangladeshi middle class to travel during Eid is on an upscale, the sector people also offer several lucrative inbound and outbound tour packages.
“Not too many people travel outside to do their Eid shopping, but many travel to enjoy the vacation,” says Syed Mahbubul Islam of Riverain Tours that operates trips to Sundarbans.
Our company has many offers for the Eid vacation and we expect to get a very good response in the largest religious festival of the country."
kawsar@thedailystar.net