Home ›› 01 May 2022 ›› Front
Retailers and lifestyle brands made a robust turnaround this season after tough two years of disappointing sales amid Covid restrictions, and this provided a much needed breather to businesses as they have already surpassed their pre-pandemic sales volume.
Both online and physical outlets are getting customers in droves, putting a smile on business owners’ faces as they cater to the needs of shoppers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr – the Muslim community’s largest festival.
Speaking to The Business Post, Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity President Md Helal Uddin said, “Retailers at shopping malls and other outlets have witnessed as much as 20 per cent growth in sales this Eid season compared to the pre-Covid period.
“Most businesses lost their investment in the last two years. They invested again this year in hopes of recovering their losses. The massive volume of sales this Eid season has helped the shops make a hefty amount of profit.”
If the same positive situation continues in the coming days, traders will be able to fully recover from losses they had incurred in the last two years, and expand their businesses again, he added.
Lifestyle brand Yellow’s Marketing In-charge Rehan Kabir said, “Customer response this year has exceeded not only the pre-Covid years, but every year since our inception. Our revenue growth has been exceptional.
“Customers have been visiting our outlets before the Ramadan began, but we made most of our sales in the last ten days. Alongside the sales growth in our physical outlets, online sales have doubled compared to the Covid period.
SM Khaled, managing director of Snowtex and SaRa Lifestyle Ltd, said, “During this Ramadan and also throughout the year, people have been visiting our outlets. Customers’ purchasing capacity has also increased following the Covid crisis.
“Our turnover this year has exceeded all expectations, and our revenue growth has been very good. Our online sales however have dropped a bit compared to last year.”
The area manager of fashion house Jotey Mehedi Hasan Himel said, “Our sales have grown on average by 8 per cent in forty outlets across Dhaka. We expected even more customers this season to cover our previous losses.”
Sale of religious items booms
The sale of religious items such as prayer caps and atars have witnessed a massive increase as well.
Islamic Item Traders Association Secretary Bashir Uddin said, “We – the traders of religious items – expect to sell prayer caps and atars worth Tk 250 crore this Ramadan.”
According to the association, before the Covid-19 hit Bangladesh, the market atars and prayer caps was Tk250 crore annually. Alongside these two items, the demand for prayer mats, surma, and prayer beads has increased too.
Asif Ikbal, co-chairman of Zehra, “The demand for perfume this year is outstanding. Our sales have witnessed a 65 per cent to 70 per cent growth compared to the pre-Covid period. People are focusing on luxury products for themselves and their dear ones. “Zehra and Its subsidiary Johr Roman have six outlets in Dhaka, including one near the Baitul Mukarram premises. All of our outlets are witnessing massive crowds every day during this Ramadan.”
Watches, footwear in high demand too
An official of TimeZone in Jamuna Future Park said, “Due to a decline in the number of people travelling abroad, our sales rose more than 10 per cent this year, compared to the pre-pandemic period.”
The footwear brands – with a catalogue of eye-catching products from different price ranges – are also making good sales this season.
Mohammad Badal, manager at Jennys in Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, said, “Every footwear outlet witnessed a sales growth of 10 per cent to 15 per cent this year, thanks to a large volume of Eid sales.
“We are expecting the number of customers to go up further as more offices close for holidays and traffic decreases as the Eid draws near.”
