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Global meltdown dampens Christmas celebrations
by Juhan
Samuel
Kochi:
The Christmas approaching, the Christians here
are worried about the tightening strings to their
purses. The effects of global meltdown have already
trickled down. Most sought after commodities during
the Christmas celebrations are the cakes and the gift
articles. The shops of Kochi are all decked up but
wear a deserted look with the customers staying away.
"The recent crisis has really affected us a lot. We
have started feeling it. Till last year, the customers
during Christmas used to come and do a lot of cash
business, but this year may be because of the financial
slowdown they are not willing to do the same which
has badly affected our sales," said Sandhya Devraj,
Supervisor, Lemars Marketing (P) Ltd. The actual Christmas
and New Year sales normally start much before. The
markets are flooded with costumers buying cakes, confectioneries
and gift articles. The shopkeepers had a handful of
orders by now last year. Some shops had registered
record sales and ran out of cakes with huge corporate
orders. This year, the wait for customers appears
to be long. "As we have just started the business,
we can not expect good sales like last year, because
of share market going down and money problem," said
Simy K Biju, shop supervisor, Pandhal Cake Shop. Last
year sale of cakes in Kerala alone stood around Rs
25 to 30 crore. The experts estimate the sales to
dip by 20 to 30 per cent this year.
-Dec 15,
2008
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