Clothing traders bemoan low sales during Easter holiday
Customers choose clothes displayed on Congo Street at Kariakoo in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | FILE
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Clothes traders at Kariakoo market said they earned little sales revenue during the just ended Easter holidays, as many buyers are crying for lack of disposable incomes.
Dar es Salaam. Clothing sales were slow at Kariakoo during the Easter holiday despite either static prices or discounts.
A survey by The Citizen yesterday established that the number of buyers of quality clothes was small.
Many consumers opted for cheaper and low-quality clothes.
The Citizen also observed that increasing use of online shopping has affected the holiday rush in city’s big markets. “Most of the traders even tried to sell at discounts to attract many buyers, but things were not as they expected,” said Ms Adelina Michael, a clothing trader at Congo Street, Kariakoo. However, the Kariakoo market, which is one of the city’s busiest areas during holidays, was flooded by food buyers.
“It was hard enough to find buyers prior to the Easter holiday due to low demand. So, you can’t raise prices as that would scare away customers.”
She said most retailers opted to introduce discounts to old inventories at between 20 to 50 per cent while selling new inventories at the reasonable price level.
“Who buys clothes for holidays these days? Maybe children and even for them it is not as much as before,” said Mr Mohammed Mustapha, a trader for jeans and T-shirts for women. According to him, previously he used to sell a cotton T-shirt at Sh15,000 and jeans at Sh20,000. He thought sales would increase during Easter holidays. He raised prices of T-shirt and jeans at Sh30,000, but the situation was tough.
Meanwhile, wholesale and retail prices of rice have increased slightly, a survey by The Citizen shows.
Retail prices of a kilo of rice at the Temeke Double Cabin market increased to between Sh2,000 and Sh2,400, depending on quality. according to an earlier survey.
conducted on Friday, higher than between Sh1,800 and Sh2,200 on Monday.
“Wholesale prices from farmers have risen, forcing us to increase retail prices,” said a Temeke Double Cabin market trader, Mr Peter Kato. According to him, the rice supply has decreased as he used to receive 105 bags a week in his 41 stores. But he now receives 130 bags only.
Wholesale prices provided by the ministry of Industry and Trade for April 17 indicated that a 100-kilo bag of rice was sold at between Sh160,000 and Sh210,000 at Tandika, Kinondoni and Temeke markets. Wholesalers attributed the slight price increase to low purchasing power among customers.
