• As prices of goods soar, patronage drops
Barely six days to Christmas, sellers and customers, yesterday, wore sombre mood at clothing, decorations and gift items stores as well as markets in major cities across the country.
While customers lament their reduced purchasing power and say basic Christmas decorations have become luxuries, sellers complain of low patronage.
Clothing retailers also complained of poor patronage, attributing it to the hardship being experienced in the country. Mrs. Daisy Idaghe, retailer in fairly used clothes for children said people were focusing more on food and not clothes.
At the Dugbe Market, Ibadan, Oyo State, Christmas decorations seller, Miss Grace Aletile, said she had resorted to begging and exploring various encouraging words to persuade customers to buy.
“The prices of items make people turn their backs and walk away. Three or four years ago, I would have been too busy attending to customers to grant this interview.”
She said the Christmas trees, usually in high demand, were particularly shunned this season.
“Every year, what we sell the most are Christmas trees and their decorations. By now, we would have lost count of sales recorded. This year, without checking the records, I can give the exact number of Christmas trees we’ve sold because people are not buying. They are not buying because the price has doubled compared to last year.”
According to her, a Christmas tree of four feet, which cost N12,000 in 2023 now sells for as high as N25,000 while a six-foot tree at N30,000 in 2023 has jumped to N70,000. A seven-foot Christmas tree was N40,000 in 2023, but now, it is N100,000.”
She said it was sad to see the business she started many years back with Christmas greeting cards struggling to survive.
“We started here by selling all kinds of greeting cards with the whole shop and outside always filled with cards. The decline in the purchase of cards made us diversify into other things that have to do with decorations. People no longer buy cards as before, which explains why we only have one rack left with greeting cards. Major buyers of cards this season are corporate organisations and businesses that want to include the cards in hampers for their customers,” she said.
A seller of hampers, Mrs. Abosede Bassey, described patronage as 90 per cent short of 2023. She said with the high cost of items put together in the hampers, they have become unaffordable for many.
“A hamper of N5,000 is now N8,000 and this is the cheapest you can get; the one of N8,000 last year is now N12,000. The plastic and wooden baskets we use are also now expensive.
“Our profit margin has shrunk because all we make goes back into purchasing the various items making up a hamper,” said Bassey.
Mrs. Omolola Bakare, who was in the market to buy Christmas caps for her three children to attend their church’s Christmas carol, said she will use the decorations she acquired over the years.
“My children insisted on me getting them caps; that’s why I’m here today and I’m even surprised that Christmas caps cost as much as N4,000 per one. The government needs to do something about the exchange rate because the prices of items in the market make you question your income and existence,” said Bakare.
Another customer, Miss Funke Ishola, who came to buy Christmas lights, described the situation as worrisome.
According to Ishola, the same lights she got at N1,800 in 2023 had shut up to N3,500.
“But really, it won’t feel like Christmas if there’s not at least a small decoration at home to signify the festive season.
“The price of the tiniest Christmas decoration can make you have a change of mind.
“Things are too expensive, and basic things are beginning to look like luxuries,” she said
In Arab Road Market, Kubwa, Abuja, Mr David Onyebueke, dealer in children’s clothes and shoes, said sales of goods are determined by civil servants patronage.
”You know many of them are yet to be paid their salaries. And due to the current economic situation, some of them have to think about transportation and feeding first before clothes .
“Last year around this time we had good sales. We are praying that things will improve.
”We urge the government to pay civil servants the new minimum wage”.
Another trader, Mrs. Ekene Ugochukwu said some of her civil servants’ customers wanted to buy on credit.
”They complained of delayed salaries. I can’t afford to sell on credit. Things are very hard now and it is not easy for us business owners because we have invested so much in the purchase of our goods, but we are not seeing buyers.”
According to Idaghe, business generally has been slow and prices of clothes have also skyrocketed.