Home ›› 15 Jan 2023 ›› Front
Various companies are offering huge discounts on furniture with lucrative designs at the ongoing Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) at Purbachal in Dhaka, but in vain.
The furniture companies are failing to attract customers at the fair despite the discounts and new designs.
Officials of the companies said they are not being able to display their whole range of new products with different sizes and designs due to space shortages.
They said none of their discount offers are getting the expected response.
They said furniture companies used to build multistoried pavilions in the previous trade fair ground at Agargaon in the capital, but it is not possible at the present venue.
“We cannot display more than 20-30 per cent of our products at a time due to space shortage. Besides, most visitors come to the trade fair at Purbachal from nearby areas mainly,” Md Mosleh Uddin, pavilion-in-charge of Partex Furniture, told The Business Post.
He said we have arranged products focusing on the interest of both middle and higher-class consumers.
“We are displaying almost 90 per cent of our new products, including home furniture, to fulfill customers’ needs and offering 5-15 per cent discount on the products,” he said.
Farjana Haque, pavilion-in-charge of Navana Furniture, told The Business Post, “We have set a target to sell products worth around Tk 3 crore in this fair, but till January 14, we have sold products worth Tk 50 lakh only. Hopefully, the sales will get momentum in the last week of the fair.”
She expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of foreign buyers. “Since the venue was shifted from Agargaon to Purbachal, foreign buyers do not come.
As a result, we are not getting export orders,” she said.
Previously, to attract clients, furniture makers used to set up their display centres in a gorgeous style at the old trade fair ground at Agargaon in the capital. However, at the trade fair’s permanent venue in Purbachal, they cannot build big pavilions due to space shortage.
At the ongoing trade fair, the country’s leading furniture makers Partex, Hatil, Delta, Navana, Akhter, Regal, Brothers, and Delta, to name but a few, brought different types of beds, almirahs, wardrobes, door, sofas, drawing tables, dressing tables, tea tables and so on made of wood, plywood as well as board.
The furniture companies have offered up to 15 per cent discount on 300 products.
Even many companies have offered the facility of equated monthly instalments (EMIs) to lure customers from low-income groups.
On Saturday, furniture pavilion owners expressed satisfaction with the turnout of crowds in the furniture zone on the 14th day of the fair.
A number of pavilion-in-charges told The Business Post that they are participating in the fair mainly for wooing visitors to their new customised products.
Customers are also happy, as they can compare the quality, variations, and prices of products, having all companies in the same place.
Jahanara Islam, a customer who bought a dressing table from the fair, said, “I am satisfied buying a new product at an affordable rate, after comparing the quality and discount of many companies.” Moshiur Rahman, marketing director of Hatil, said they have set a target to sell products worth Tk 2 crore, offering 5-10 per cent discounts on various items.
A total of 331 stalls have been set up at the fair venue and 17 of them are of foreign entrepreneurs from 10 countries. The 27th edition of the DITF started at Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre at Purbachal on January 1.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in collaboration with the commerce ministry has been organising the trade fair since 1995. Up to 25 editions, the DITF was organised at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
