Holiday season: High prices put a damper on Eid celebrations

Prices of clothing items see increase in twin cities during Eid season

ISLAMABAD: Common man is bereft of the prospect of fully satisfying their basic needs due to the minimal wages they earn and high inflation. Unchecked prices mean no matter how much they earn their purchasing power fails to improve.

This has had a knock-on effect with shopkeepers being unable to meet their forecasted sales level as well.

The situation this Eid was not much different for a large number of residents of the twin cities. High prices meant they had to return home empty handed.

A majority of shopkeepers stated that during Ramazan and Eid holidays their sales was low due to high inflation coupled with the hot weather, which kept customers away from the markets.

Traders dealing in clothing and accessories said that an increase in wholesale prices led to lower sales.

Consequently, shopkeepers made last-ditch efforts to sell items at wholesale rates but that failed to woo buyers.

Muhammad Shahid, a shopkeeper in Saddar, said that a pair of jeans that would previously cost Rs600, was now being sold at Rs800 in the wholesale market.

He also claimed that there had been a 30 to 40 per cent increase in the inflation rate compared to the previous year. Shahid further added that the new budget had no effect on the price of clothing items as their price had already increased before the budget was announced.

Shaikh Fayyaz, another shopkeeper, said that due to the exponential increase in prices, Eid sales had gone down by at least 50 per cent compared to last year.

Fayyaz, while agreeing with other shopkeepers said that a shirt, which previously cost Rs150, was presently being sold at a wholesale rate of Rs200 that had significantly impacted the sales.

He said that “Despite putting discounted price tags on items in the hope of recovering losses on chand raat, I did not see people taking much interest.”

Hamayat Ali, who works as a shopkeeper in Saddar said that the prices had only increased for branded items due to the rise in rents and store maintenance rates.

Similarly, Abdul Qudoos, who sells children’s garments, said that since families shopping for Eid focus on buying clothes for their kids first, he had not experienced any significant drop in sales.

Nisar Ahmed, another shopkeeper said that he managed to sell only 10 per cent of what he had expected for Ramazan but his sales did increase during Eid.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2016.