As December climes get colder, Goa gets set to welcome the Christmas festival with a good volume of business and revenues generated at this time of the year.
The festive season business is vast and shopkeepers, vendors, mall owners watch out for the welcoming signs of Christmas and New Year. For the retailer the festive season is serious business. Sales of confectionery, victuals, garments, toys along with big-ticket items such as jewelry, furniture, household goods, consumer durables, automobiles, liquor and high-end food boom during these days.
All in all it is the season for sudden increase in revenues and for handsome profits by trade. During the season sweets, gift boutiques, fire crackers, lights and decorative item sellers are in good demand.
Goans wait for festival of Christmas, which is favorite of many especially for the kids. It may be noted that during the Christmas week and New Year’s Eve, hoteliers, taxi and rent-a-bike owners wait for good business. Hoteliers get good business during this time of the year and rent-a-bike owners also make a quick buck by renting their bikes. There is a lot of crowd in the state, during the festival. Rent-a- bikes are in demand due to traffic jams everywhere and so the owners get high rate for the season.
The market for Christmas decorations comprises sales of items such as candies, sparkling stars, cotton flakes, cakes, socks, gifts, among others. Goans decorate their homes with colorful papers and poinsettias. Even the churches are decorated for the occasion and the market places in the city wear a festive look with tinsel and buntings.
“I am optimistic about the sales going higher in the days to come as the New Year celebrations approaches. For the Christmas there has been good demand for the sweets as most of the people buy various kinds of sweets for home and also gift sweets to friends and relatives,” said a vendor. There are vendors who offers customers various traditional Goan sweets like bebinca, dodol, pinag, kulkul, bolinhas, neureo, rose cookies etc.
The cost of the sweets differs in various markets according to the quality and the food industry does not work on market per se. It may be applicable for clothing and housing industries and people always have money for food,” said a women sweet seller.
The festival also sees good market for garments. Big brands announce huge discounts to lure shoppers who take time out from their busy schedule to get themselves the best possible outfits.
A shop owner said that the buzz picks up in the last couple of days prior to the festival, however with the entry of malls and online marketing, the business is slow and our net profit has come down in the past couple of years. “We compensate with a low inventory and order sufficient amount and we cut unwanted costs on advertising and hoardings and we will wait and watch for a couple of years more how the business trends change in the garment industry,” he said.
The business is good till now and still there are days where more sales can be expected. The countdown has begun for shop owners who wait in abeyance for sales to boom. Their sales is usually high during the festival as compared to the other normal days.
According to the information available from the sources, sweets are more of a status symbol when given as gifts and the box is the brand name wherein quantity but quality matters.
A sweet shop owner said that during the festival time the business increases and the season begins from Ganesh Chaturthi followed by Diwali and now Christmas and New Year and it is a floating market which ventures out with new taste of sweets.
There is no full stop for food and one can’t stop eating sweets and definitely we are looking for good rise in the sales during the festival as people gift sweets to friends and relatives apart from taking home for the family.
The state markets are witnessing good sales and expecting to do better in the coming days and during the last week of the year as Goa is expected to get more tourists for the New Year celebrations.
Giving a year-end boost to retailers business in the state is Christmas shopping with just three days to go for the festival, reports Bhiva P Parab
