News | Sunday, 20 December 2009

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Retailers dream of ‘shoppers of Christmas past’

David Darmanin

Most high street shop owners interviewed by MaltaToday this week have lost all hope of reaching the same sales figures as last year’s Christmas season – which was in any case already considered to be poor.
Talking about one of his outlets at Baystreet, Pedigree Toyshops managing director Mario Balzan Demajo said: “Mind you, last year the recession was also felt during the Christmas season, but not as much as this year. What we are truly experiencing this festive season is a number of challenges.”
The influx of patrons browsing at Baystreet remains healthy, “but unfortunately the purchasing power has decreased drastically. Why do I say this? The results of our sales analysis for the first two weeks in December have highlighted a decrease in spending power of approximately 15% and a further decrease of 12% of people actually buying gifts when compared to last Christmas. This trend mirrors all our other outlets in and around the shopping centres in Malta.”
Although Balzan Demajo expects a last-minute rush in the coming days, he said he is still not hopeful that this year’s “higher turnover in the last 10 days” will be anywhere close to last year’s.
“This year we are selling more of the lower priced products, unlike last year, because of the decrease in spending power. This of course drops the turnover.”
Sterling Jewellers managing director Romina Grech Fenech said that although she has not yet worked out her key performance indicators, it is amply clear that spending power has dropped when compared to last year.
“8 December was quite strong,” she said – referring to the feast of the Immaculate Conception, also considered a ‘starting point’ for Christmas shopping. “But other than that… budgets have definitely gone down because people are thinking twice before buying. Then there is also the parking problem in Valletta. People are afraid to come here. We are now hoping for the last days leading to Christmas to compensate for the sales we lost so far, because ultimately everyone buys gifts for Christmas.”
On his part, Tommy Hilfiger shop manager John Delia agreed that 8 December was a good day for Republic Street, “but the rest was just a little above what we sell on normal days.”
This is the first Christmas for Delia’s outlet in Valletta, although he has been working in Republic Street as a retail destination for the past 23 years.
“We lost 13 December this year, because people considered it just like any other Sunday. To cap it all, both political parties held events that day, and there was also the Istrina marathon. Since Christmas will this year be celebrated towards the end of the week, it could be likely that people are leaving shopping for the very last minute.”
To compensate for the dull Christmas season, Tommy Hilfiger has had an outstanding winter this year. “We sell a luxury brand,” Delia said. “The spring summer collection finished completely and winter is doing very well.”
That said, Delia added that the parking problem in Valletta did not get any better with Park-and-Ride and the take-up of St George’s Square as an open space to replace the parking area that was formerly there. “Before anything happens here, like the Renzo Piano project for instance, parking needs to be taken in consideration. The ditch is the last free available place to park in that is close enough to Valletta. I know we’re very lazy and we always want to park at the doorstep of anywhere we go to, but parking is still a problem here because the only way in is through the bus terminal.”
At Tommy Hilfiger, Delia said that people still spend “decent amounts”.
“They either buy something for themselves, or very often they pool in to buy vouchers for their bosses at work. We haven’t noticed people opting for just the cheaper items.”
Delia argues that shopping trends have drastically changed over the last years.
“In the past, people used to start shopping for Christmas as early as in November,” he said. “The span keeps getting shorter and shorter. But to our advantage, in the clothing industry, Christmas shopping does not stop on Christmas Day. People keep buying clothes for the whole festive season – New Year’s Eve in particular. Then of course there are those who wait for the January sale.”
“They’re ruining Valletta, they’re killing it,” said Handkrafts manager James Aquilina. “St George’s Square did nothing to help, and part of the reason why we are registering a little less in sales than last year is due to that. I doubt last-minute shoppers will change anything at this point.”
A Sliema clothes shop, whose manager wished to remain anonymous, said that although this is their first Christmas at their new outlet, this Christmas season’s performance so far fell short of their expectations by about 5%. Asked whether she was expecting a high turnout towards the last days leading to Christmas, she said: “No, but we’re certainly hoping.”
Nicky Bonnici, who owns Chaucer’s Bookshop at Baystreet, said that this season’s sales “do not compare to last year’s – and unfortunately, I mean it in the bad sense.
“There isn’t the volume of last year or two years ago,” he said. “It’s down by about 15 to 20%.”
Bonnici said that Christmas Eve is generally his busiest day of the year, as apart from books Chaucer’s also sells stationery items.
“But you can tell that people have become more price conscious this year, even when buying greeting cards, wrapping paper or box cards,” he said. On the positive side, Bonnici said that Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol has already sold out. He also expects the new Malta 360 degrees and Gloria Mizzi’s cookery book to do well.
Striking an uncharacteristic note, D’Amato record shop director Joseph D’Amato said that he is doing as well this Christmas as last, and that it is normal that the season “starts a little slowly before that bit of a push in the end.”
D’Amato said that Christmas titles are selling fast, as happens every year. But added to these, the new Claudio Baglioni album featuring Joseph Calleja in one of the tracks is doing well. “Susan Boyle is also a fast mover,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guess at Baystreet has run out of leather jackets. An upbeat Division Merchandiser Drew Warhurst told MaltaToday that they “can’t grumble”.
“Accessories and handbags are selling like cheesecakes,” he said. “Denims, along with leather jackets – which are our most expensive items this year – have sold out.”
Warhurst said he was quite impressed with the performance, since as a general rule, these items sell closer towards the end of the year.
Asked whether he had to come up with a pre-Christmas sale to attract business, Warhurst said: “No, we only had one offer on certain tops which we only gave to our loyal customers. Our leather jackets cost €350 to €500, and people bought them for themselves rather than as gifts.”

ddarmanin@mediatoday.com.mt

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