Not so Merry Christmas for retailers

Secunderabad: With the Christmas getting closer, retailers selling the Christmas tree are fully geared for the festive season. However, the changing preferences of customers for online shopping have now changed the retail landscape of shopping for Christmas celebration items like tree from the brick and mortar shops.

It has already been a worrying trend for retain sector on the while with people seeking to shop online for a good number of items, cheap or expensive, the trend has caught up with Christmas revelers, too, who are scouring online shops from the comfort of their homes for clothes, sweets and other goodies, to the very Christmas tree. This changing behaviour is putting considerable strain on both resources and revenues of offline retailers.

Compared to last year, the retailers in twin cities have reported nearly 40 per cent dip in sales due to onslaught by online shopping sites like Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart etc. They not only door-deliver festival goodies like the tree but also give an option to the consumers to return the goods within a specified period and avail of refunds in time. This convenience is impelling several people to experience online shopping even for festival items. Thus, the offline retailers are being relegated to the background by the online shopping sites.

Umakanth, manager, Shraddha Extension, Secunderabad, shares that the sales have come down compared to last year as many are preferring to buy from shopping platforms; he says, "Because of the recent online trend the offline market has been hampered a lot. Yet, we expect to see a rise in sale days prior before Christmas."

Sandhria Thomas, a resident of Sainikpuri Defence Colony, shares how her house tradition has changed over the years because of the online trend. She says, "Earlier Christmas shopping was like a festival itself for us as we use to plan and shop days prior. Because of the new online trend, most of the things are being bought online itself, which saves us time and energy." "Going to a shop and then bringing back everything home is a task itself, because of online shopping we don't have to go anywhere everything is delivered home, which is more convenient," she adds further.