Business Report
Superstores in the city and in other districts are facing hard time losing sales in one hand and braving odds in securing fresh supply of vegetable from rural farm gates and other outsourcing spots.
Frequent blockades and countrywide violence are taking the toll destabilizing the business, the sources said. “Our businesses are about to collapse. Very few customers come to the superstores due to the ongoing unrest,” a senior functionary of Bangladesh Supermarket Owners’ Association said last week.
Superstore lost sales in recent times to a large extent. But for small chain stores, the fall is even steeper running around 95 per cent, he said.
City customers are not coming to the stores for security reasons, said an executive of ACI Logistics Ltd which operates 43 Shwapno-branded stores and a number of franchise chain across Bangladesh.
Shwapno is also experiencing a decline in sales. He said customers’ confidence has eroded significantly in political turbulence. People are buying essentials from their neighbourhood stores, rather going to the superstores.
Sales at Rahimafrooz Superstores Ltd that operates Agora brand merchandise declined by more than 35 per cent, said a senior company official. Middle income customers are target group of Agora. They cannot come to the stores in their cars for fear of violence.As a result,its daily sales have dropped sharply.
He said in a normal day, Agora which is operating 13 outlets used to record sales worth around Tk 70 lakh. The amount dropped close to Tk 40 lakh now.
Difficulty in securing supply is a big problem through blockades in one hand and suppliers cannot deliver goods on time for the blockades and strikes in the other.
Meena Bazar functionaries shared a similar story. “We are losing 30-40 per cent of sales every day due to the unrest,” said a functionary. It operates eighteen outlets across Bangladesh and sources vegetables mainly directly from farmers. The functionary said they are facing a challenge in maintaining the supply of perishable goods due to the frequent blockades and strikes.
At present, 24 companies operate more than 100 superstores across the country, according to the supermarket owners’ association. Supermarkets account for around 2 per cent of total sales in the country, which is around 10 percent in India, industry insiders.
Around 38,000 shops, including superstores, are now operating in Dhaka and the suffering are almost similar to all of them. Their combined annual turnover stands at more than Tk 1,500 crore, with the government receiving around Tk 30 crore in value added tax.
Source: Weekly Holiday
