Retailers are worried the uncertainty surrounding the election, is weighing down consumers at a time when they hope to recover from the slow sales experienced from last holiday season.
A BusinessDay visit to Lagos malls showed worst hit among these retailers are stores selling cards, gift packs, perfume, flower, beauty and female wares.
Few store operators who spoke with BusinessDay, however expressed optimism that things will get far much better after election is over.
“Usually, all my stock is booked well in advance before Valentine’s Day. But this year I have not secured a single booking, since last year, Nigerians seems to have held on to a frugal habit” said Ademola, a shopkeeper.
Shoprite Nigeria last year announced it recorded its slowest sales growth in years, and was linked to low consumer confidence.
Other shopkeepers and stallholders in Yaba, Ikeja, Oshodi, and CMS markets visited were seen chatting away waiting for customers, echoing Ademola concerns.
Market survey shows the price of gift cards sold at N1600 last year was selling for N1000 and others N800, perfumes ranges from N2500 to N10,000 most had prices slashed by N600, N400 to woo consumers.
“I have sold a couple of them some few hours ago” she said.
For Jumai Alabi ,a flower shopkeeper in CMS, expressed surprise noting she had to drop some of her inventories to as low N1500, which on a good market day are sold at N2500 to N4000 depending on the customer bargaining power.
Victoria another retailer who deals on cloths said she also had to drop her price due to the low interest showed especially for the expensive red dresses, which to her is unusual especially on a Valentine’s Day.
A survey at various malls further showed that only selected gift stores displayed goods relating to Valentine Day.
In a recent survey carried out by Nielsen, it showed Nigeria’s latest Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for the third quarter of 2018 decline by four point to 118, when Ghana’s consumer confidence for the same quarter rose by five points to 113.
Consumer confidence measures how optimistic or pessimistic consumers are regarding their present and future economic prospects.
Commenting on the results, Bryan Sun, Nielsen Sub Saharan Africa MD blamed Nigeria’s low consumer confidence on the economic growth, the strain of continued high inflation, and the current political climate with the upcoming elections, have led to a drop in consumer confidence in Nigeria.
“Consumer wallets are currently very stretched, with consumers struggling to make ends meet. The sentiment around minimum wages being too low has also taken its toll on confidence levels and is being reflected in consumers’ spending habits,” he noted.
Emmauael Morka a marketing lecturer at Delta State Polytechnic explained that the fall in retail sales is a real sign that consumers are tightening their purse strings due to uncertainty about the forthcoming elections.
“It’s possible that consumers postponed major purchases until the after the elections, a stability after the election will definitely trigger a rebound in sales volumes.”
David Ibemere
