Rising prices steal Christmas cheer from companies

Many companies in Nigeria have but to see the standard spike in gross sales forward of Christmas as households are slicing down on spending for the festive season to deal with the price of residing disaster within the nation.

“Companies are already witnessing a dismal Christmas. It is because Nigerians aren’t spending like earlier than for the festive season owing to inflation and excessive price of residing,” Femi Egbesola, nationwide president of the Affiliation of Small Enterprise House owners, stated in a response to questions.

“The low patronage is being felt by all companies however micro and small companies are worst hit,” he stated.

He stated the price of doing enterprise is rising every day with the continued surge in inputs and transportation prices, coupled with the overseas alternate shortage hammering Africa’s most populous nation.

The inflation charge accelerated to 21.47 p.c in November for the tenth consecutive month, information from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics present, as persistent gasoline shortage pushed up the nation’s meals inflation to 24.13 p.c.

After recording development for seven consecutive quarters, the nation’s manufacturing sector contracted by 1.191 p.c within the third quarter of this yr.

“Actions round this Christmas have been uninteresting and gross sales have been very low. Persons are not shopping for, even companies that often place numerous orders for items throughout Christmas are solely putting a couple of orders,” Bilikisu Yusuf, a present dealer at Apapa, advised BusinessDay.

“Nigerians are attempting to deal with the fixed rise within the value of every thing, and companies are additionally struggling to maintain up with rising manufacturing prices and retaining prospects,” Yusuf stated.

Uchenna Uzo, a college director at Lagos Enterprise College, stated the speed of value enhance for sure classes of products has been astronomical whereas for some, the frequency of value adjustments has been troublesome for shoppers to handle.

In response to him, some shoppers boycotted sure manufacturers by on the lookout for cheaper alternate options, whereas others have continued with the identical manufacturers however shopping for a lot smaller portions on a necessity foundation.

“It will be a dismal Christmas for shoppers and companies. Persons are simply going to be very cautious about the place they’re placing their cash on and won’t go to any waste. So, it will likely be a form of fairy cautions form of Christmas,” he stated.

Chinedu Allison, an attendant at one of many amusement parks in Ikeja, the park has seen much less patronage in comparison with final yr even at a time when faculties would often organise Christmas carols for his or her pupils and college students.

“Dad and mom aren’t taking their kids on outings this yr. We now have seen fewer actions this yr when it comes to visits by dad and mom and their kids, and even faculties aren’t reserving for carols and occasions for his or her pupils,” Allison stated.

He stated he’s not hopeful that the state of affairs will enhance owing to the rising price of residing. “There isn’t a cash; most Nigerians are simply struggling to outlive as inflation retains eroding their buying energy.”

Toyin Ubamadu, CEO of Wuwi Giftings, stated her firm has needed to undertake coping mechanisms within the face of the financial challenges.

“If our shoppers inform us that they wish to spend like N100,000 for a buyer. We are going to nonetheless give them 10 objects for that quantity; the one distinction is that the portions or the dimensions of things will scale back. Like a 50 kg bag of rice has now been decreased to 25kg,” Ubamadu stated.