By Suraj Narine
Sales during this Christmas past were not satisfactory according to some business owners who said that Chinese businesses dominated the market; other businesspersons chose to “accept and bless” their takings for the holiday season.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Amarnath Muneshwer of Muneshwer’s Limited said that business during the Christmas season was fair but he hoped that it would have been better. He related that there was a decrease in sales in comparison to last year. Asked what he thought was the reason for the drop in sales, he replied, “There are more sellers than buyers and the Chinese are taking over. They (Chinese) have dominated the market since they get the liberty to do so…”
Asked to specify what he meant by “liberty,” he said, “you need to ask the government.”
A representative of National Hardware Guyana Limited also lamented the sales for this season. Manager Ganesh Niranjan said that of his 16 years in business, he has never seen a season like this one. He related that during the Christmas shopping, sales declined tremendously.
He explained that Christmas Eve was like a normal business day where he could have pinpointed and monitored every customer and his staff were “not on the edge” like they usually are during this time of the year. He also lamented that the Chinese have taken over the market and customers were being drawn in by their cheap prices regardless of what he said were the inferior quality of the products that they sell.
Niranjan also mentioned that persons spoke of not paying value added tax (VAT) when they shopped at Chinese stores and if that was true, he said, it would be unfair to the Guyanese industry.
Beepat’s, the sole distributors of Brunswick, Lysol, Nestle and other brands, also complained about the slow business season. They resorted to reducing their wholesale quantity requirements to almost 25% for some items so that they could maintain their 100-plus staff and at the same time, keep customers happy.
“Sales are down more than last year. It was not what we expected but we have made some changes. Instead of customers buying a dozen of a specific item, they can now buy three and would be able to get the wholesale price,” manager of the company Hazeline Blackman said.
Asked what she thought were the reasons for the decrease in sales she replied: “It has to do with a lot of things but Christmas this year was not like the Christmas we used (to) know. There is a lot of competition out there as well. Then there’s the Chinese, if you walk around you could see their stores full… they (Chinese) would come in the store and they would look at items and you might think that they are interested but it is not so. They scrutinize but we have to keep going because we are here to stay, we still have our bragging rights because we are the sole distributors of many items and we have to keep our staff employed, all 100 and something of them but overall, sales were down… and I hope things get better for the New Year’s.”
Julieanna Kirpaul, supervisor at Sachi’s on Regent Street related that sales were down which she said was because of the many Chinese businesses around the city that sell what she described as low quality and cheap items. She explained that the Chinese businesses can afford to sell at lower prices because they pool their resources so that they can purchase multiple containers.
“Guyanese people are attracted to cheap prices, they usually don’t care about the quality. That’s the advantage they (Chinese) have… we will continue to sell at our prices because we have a standard to upkeep, we have quality,” she asserted.
A representative of Ramroop’s Furniture Store on Lombard Street, Dhanesh Naraine, said yesterday that there was a Christmas shopping rush right up to Christmas Eve. However, there was a tremendous decline in sales for the past couple of days. This, he believes, is because of talk of general elections. He believes that people are “holding back” their monies even as he hopes that things pick up soon.
Survival Supermarkets also lamented the slow shopping season. Parshuram Arjune, the manager and part owner of the supermarkets said that this year’s shopping was poor. He said that persons have been shopping conservatively which was strange for this season.
The reason for this, he said, is unclear as he mulled the option that resources are not being circulated or the economy is not doing well. Arjune explained that they are struggling to make up numbers and said that there is major competition at hand. “The season also picked up late so I guess that also is a factor but we look forward for a better 2015,” he said.
For N&S Mattai & Company in Water Street, this season’s sales was fair. According to Managing Director Harry Mattai, the “fair” sales might have been due to persons shifting their food needs down the agenda so as to facilitate the payments of loans, mortgages and bills. He added that the company will have to be satisfied and he is sure that business will pick up as he is looking forward to a bright New Year.
Gizmos and Gadgets also has seen brighter days. Sophia Dolphin, the person in charge of sales said that there was a decrease in sales during the Christmas season. The reason for this, she said, is because of the intense competition mainly because of the many online shopping options available countrywide.
“Most people shop online because they have a credit card but what happens is sometimes they end up purchasing the wrong item and they still turn to us in the end but maintaining excellent customer service is more important to us,” she said.
For, The Discount Store on Regent Street, this year’s Christmas sales were “terrible.”
“This year was terrible than last year, it’s definitely because of more competition out there,” Manager, Ridwan Khan said. He added that there is an increase in the pre-new year’s shopping mainly because of the back-to-school lists.
