'Golden Week' retail sales drops due to typhoon
- Details
- Category: Ningbo Business
- Published: Tuesday, 15 October 2013 09:56
Typhoon "Fitow" unexpectedly put an early end to the holiday spending in Ningbo.
The sunshine in the first five days of the holiday brought joys to local retailers. Sales of travel tours, entertainment, gold, and home appliances saw robust growth. However, with the coming of the typhoon, people had to quit their holiday spending and stay home in the shelter from the storm. Statistics released by the municipal Trade Bureau show, the 28 major shopping centers, supermarkets and hotels achieved a total turnover of 538 million yuan the seven-day holiday , down 7.4 percent year on year.
Local department stores, appliance stores and large supermarkets saw stable sales growth during the "Golden week", but sales of catering in high-end hotel set to wane. Major shopping malls including No. 2 Department Store, Intime Department Store and New Jiangxia Shopping Mall boosted shopping sales by discounts and promotions. Gold jewelry, autumn clothing and bedding remained the hottest sale items. Statistics show, the 10 major shopping centers in Ningbo achieved a total sale of 274 million yuan (US$ 44.8 million) during the "Golden Week". The average daily turnover of New Jiangxia Shopping Mall increased 44.6 percent year on year while No. 2 Department Store and Intime Department Store also saw a sale growth of 15 percent.
Local supermarkets also saw growing food sales as the demand for fish, pork, and vegetables got strong during the National Day holiday. The eight major supermarkets achieved a total sale of 246 million yuan(US$ 40.2 million). Metro supermarket reported a year-on-year sale rise of 10 percent.
Despite the low sale of high-end catering, the wedding banquets and specialty cuisine were still hot during the holiday. The wedding banquets in Xiangyang Yugang Restaurant brought rising sales during the holiday. Besides, catering consuption kept soaring in local tourist attractions.
