He Retail trade is waiting to be able to boost sales, that are bad this year. In a couple of weeks, they will have signs about a potential recovery in consumption, although due to a specific situation. And, on the one hand, Sunday, June 16, will be the Father’s day and, then, from the 20th of this month until July, companies will pay the first installment of the Supplementary Annual Salary (SAC).
“For businesses, Father’s Day is the first commercial date of the year. Retail sales, according to the Argentine Chamber of Medium Enterprises (CAME), show a drop of 18.4% in the accumulated year,” highlighted the consultant specialized in mass consumption, Damian Di Pace, from Focus Market.
According to him, the businesses that Those dedicated to clothing and electronics have the best prospects in the coming weeks.
“The items with the greatest participation in the demand projection are Clothing, IT and TV, Experiences and Wine Bars,” he explained. One step further down are Footwear, Sporting Goods and Smartphones, Perfumery and Tools, Bookstores and Home Goods and Gifts, Jewelry/Watches and Leather Goods.
And, according to a previous surveysmall open-air shops They seem to have the best prospects.
The survey of Focus Market indicates that 32% of consumers will go to traditional stores, 27%, through Electronic Commerce and 35%, through the trade’s online store.
“Electronic commerce gains participation in purchases but with a ‘Pick Up’ withdrawal system in Shopping Centers on Streets and Avenues or Shopping Malls,” says Di Pace.
Entrepreneurs are not so optimistic
Despite the expectations placed on two elements that can partially reverse the drop in sales such as Father’s Day and the arrival of the Christmas bonus, businesses do not have high expectations
According to a report by Federation of Commerce of the City of Buenos Aires (FECOBA), in the previous report, 6 out of 10 SME businesses project that sales will have a drop in interannual terms.
Fabián Castillo, the president of FECOBA, told Ámbito that “these dates are always expected to increase the average sales that we have been having throughout the year.”
Entrepreneurs, whose business is the sale of footwear, point out that Unlike last year, in 2024 “retail trade has a reference price.” He recalled that, in 2023, the SME entrepreneur did not know if I was going to be able to replace merchandiseand at what price, above all, due to the effect of import restrictions.
Aguinaldo encourages consumer expectations
The question of bonus can also play in favor of consumptionmore than Father’s Day itself, because as Castillo points out Last year “3 million cards were canceled” because the banks did not update the limitswhich prevented people from consuming.
In fact, the businessman points out that according to the entity’s own data, It appears that consumers have been more careful with their plastics. “They have no debt on the card,” she explained. This means that there is a very different consumption potential than there was in 2023, because people will use the bonus less to pay off debt.
Like other SME entrepreneurs, Castillo sees that companies in that segment may have problems paying the SAC in the first installment of the year. The effort, he says, can be done in two installments, which somehow implies putting more money in people’s pockets.
Source: Ambito
