Furniture sales surprisingly low this Eid
Bucking the trend of previous years, home furniture sales have slowed down in the lead up to Eid-ul-Fitr as people are prioritising essential expenses amid the ongoing inflationary pressure, according to industry people.
Even the attractive discounts and various marketing strategies deployed by furniture producers and traders have failed to increase sales during Ramadan this year, they said.
"Home furniture sales fell by almost 50 per cent year-on-year this Ramadan," said Selim H Rahman, chairman and managing director of Hatil Furniture, a leading furniture brand in Bangladesh.
Customers are preferring to buy clothes, food and other essentials rather than luxuries such as furniture as the inflationary pressure stemming from global economic crises has strained their purchasing power.
So, neither discounts or marketing strategies have helped register higher sales ahead of Eid, he added.
Previously, Hatil would sell at least Tk 3 crore worth of furniture throughout Ramadan but the company saw sales of just Tk 1.5 crore this time around. (Correction: Actually Hatil sold furniture worth at least Tk 47 crore throughout Ramadan in 2022 and sales stood at Tk 37 crore during Ramadan in 2023.)
Rahman then said people usually buy new furniture ahead of Eid in order to refurnish their homes on the occasion, but this trend is largely absent this year as inflation has eroded the income of middle-class people.
Middle-income groups are the biggest consumers of most products and so, the market becomes slow when they come under financial pressure.
"Upper-class people buy furniture too but their numbers are insignificant in our country," he added.
Rahman went on to say that their exports have also fallen due to the global economic crisis amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Nevertheless, the furniture industry in Bangladesh has achieved significant growth over the past decade, he said.
Industry insiders say the combined annual sale of home and office furniture by both organised and unorganised sectors has remained stagnant at around Tk 25,000 crore since 2020.
Sales of Partex Furniture, a concern of Partex Star Group, have also declined by as much as 50 per cent this year.
Home furniture sales fell by almost 50 per cent year-on-year this Ramadan.
"Customers are not ready to spend money on purchasing furniture as their disposable income has fallen due to inflation," said Fazle Rabbi, head of marketing at Partex Star Group.
Other than reduced demand among the general public, government purchases of furniture has come down to almost zero as austerity measures have been taken to reduce non-essential expenditures amid the economic crisis.
Likewise, even the corporate sector is avoiding luxury purchases as business has been slow.
Rabbi then said living costs have risen by as much 20 per cent in the past few months, which has adversely impacted the furniture industry.
Besides, people are more interested in buying comparatively cheaper non-branded furniture considering their financial constraints.
On the other hand, sales of Regal Furniture, a concern of Pran-RFL Group, enjoyed their expected sales ahead of Eid.
"We are happy with our Eid sales as customer footfall was good despite the country's current situation," said Kamruzzaman Kamal, marketing director of Pran-RFL Group.
According to him, customers are preferring products of Regal Furniture as they have not increased their prices despite the higher raw material cost resulting from Taka's devaluation against the US dollar.
"We are trying our best to provide customers with the best quality furniture at a reasonable price. But if the dollar shortage continues, the furniture industry will suffer in the long run," he added.
Riad Hossain, manager of Altaf Furniture at Begum Rokeya Sarani in Dhaka's Mirpur, said he could not sell any products in the past three days as few customers are showing up while those that do seek low-priced options.
"I am yet to witness this type of situation during my 20 years' experience in this sector. Maybe the people are opting to bear the expense of essential items instead of purchasing furniture," he added.
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