Consumer goods sales dwindling

Consumer goods sales dwindling
eKantipur.com, 6-Oct-07
BY PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

Despite Nepal's national festival Dashain being around the corner, major departmental stores and wholesale outlets are getting increasingly worried. Sales have not picked up, and shoppers are not flocking as they used to, they say.

Traders say volume of business is nowhere close to what it was at this time in previous years mostly as the customers outside the Kathmandu Valley have dwindled owing to regular and protracted disruptions in vehicular movements, especially in the tarai region. They say outside traders make up a considerable contribution in total sales.

“Sales have dropped in the range of 25 to 30 percent compared to last year's Dashain,” said Rijendra Sthapit, purchase manager of Bluebird Department Store, which ranks among the oldest and leading retailers in the capital. “The flow of customers seems very thin this year with the numbers falling to 200 a day, from 300 to 400.”

The turnover at the Kathmandu Mall, a leading shopping center, has also depleted by 50 percent, said shopkeepers. The Mall houses more than 300 shops that showcase different varieties of consumer goods.

"Though the Dashain is just one week away, movement of customers falls far short of expectations" said Sameer Udhin Shekh, vice-president of Trade Association of Kathmandu Mall.

"Prolonged political instability and unrest in the tarai region have disrupted the movement of customers, mainly from other districts. And this has led to a massive drop in sales,” Durga Bahadur Shrestha, president of Trans-Himalayan Traders Association, told the Post.

He said the entire wholesale market has seen a decline of 30 to 40 percent in sales compared to last year. “As a result, the stock of goods meant for the Dashain festival is lying idle in stores,” he said.

Besides low sales, disturbance in arrival of goods that overseas traders ordered from third countries have them worried. They said the delay may result in short-supply of some commodities during this festive season.

"Around 500 containers are stranded near Kolkata as a vital bridge on the main route used for ferrying imported goods to Nepal collapsed last month and has not been repaired yet," said Ramesh Kumar Khetan, general secretary of Overseas Traders Association (OTA). “What is more disturbing is that the level of demand of goods in the market has nosedived by up to 50 percent.”