It has been the most depressing Eid for clothing brands
With butterflies within their stomachs, a host of clothing brands took up their shutters after one-and-a-half months following the government allowed them to reopen before Eid-ul-Fitr, their biggest sales season that rakes in one-third their total total annual sales.
But their sales since May 10 amid shortened opening hours of 10 am to 4 pm have been lacklustre at best.
"We'd two options: to resume our procedure or even to just sit idle. We chosen the former," said Mohammd Ashraful Alam, ceo of Aarong, a respected lifestyle brand.
The brand has 21 stores in total and 12 of these are open.
"With all this crisis, sales are good. But it's not our priority. The priority is to guarantee the safety of our customers and workers."
To make sure social distancing, the brand is now allowing a limited number of customers to enter its stores predicated on capacity.
The six hours of opening time is divided into six time slots and customers must book a date and time on its website before calling in.
Asked about the criticism on social media for reopening at the same time when the coronavirus caseload and fatalities are is escalating, Alam cited two predominant reasons.
There are about 65,000 craftsmen or artisans, who be left without new commission if Aarong cannot sell.
"Those artisans eventually would be jobless."
And finding no work, the employees could switch professions and that could bring about the extinction of many traditional handicraft products regarded as part of Bengali heritage.
Although Aarong's online sales have soared tenfold amid the pandemic, it really is still the brick-and-mortar stores that brings the majority of its revenue, and especially ahead of the country's biggest sales season.
The contribution of e-commerce is only 1 % of Aarong's total sales, Alam said, adding that the brand's daily average daily Eid sales this season are just 10 % of last year's.
Monnujan Nargis, CEO of Le Reve, is somewhat content with the sales this season as the customer conversion rate is 100 %.
The brand has opened 11 of its 17 stores in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Sylhet and Khulna, and virtually all the clients who are braving it to the stores are buying something.
"The occurrence of customers is not that much like during other Eid, when the shopping itself became a festival. But considering this grave situation, our sales are good," she said, adding that the brand's average invoice value now could be Tk 3,500.
In fact it is enjoying good sales online too.
Prior to the pandemic, only 5 per cent of the brand's total sales originated from e-commerce. But now it really is about 50 %.
To address the pandemic which contributed to decreasing persons income significantly, Twelve Clothing introduced equal monthly instalment (EMI) facility for the very first time in Bangladesh.
The credit cardholders of City Bank American Express, Dhaka Bank, EBL and Prime Bank now can purchase products worth Tk 5,000 or above by availing the three-month EMI facility.
"We must sell our products anyhow. If the things remain unsold, which means we will be out of cash soon," said Samia Ahmed, head of brand and marketing of Twelve.
For the first couple of days, the sales weren't proficient at 10 of its 16 stores that are now open.
Then it came up with offers such as buy-one-get-one-free, special surprise voucher for outlet purchase and even a 30 % discount on new arrivals.
"These offers are actually ticking up our sales," Ahmed said, adding that its e-commerce sales have gained up to 80 % growth in this pandemic situation.
But also for many clothing brands like Sadakalo, the reopening isn't bearing worthwhile news, said Azharul Haque Azad, managing director of Sadakalo.
Only one outlet among its 11 stores has been opened a few days ago.
"We are facing a devastating situation in our business. We thought online orders would be good, but it's not," he said, adding that the brand's online orders dropped around 70 per cent.
Soumik Das, CEO of Rang Bangladesh that has opened 5 of its 14 stores, echoed the same.
"Our online orders are also flat because lockdown created an obstacle to reach the people," he added.
With the exorbitant rent on space, almost no business within the last couple of months and a bleak future ahead, many brands would completely fold, Das added.
Mohoshin Alam, head of procedures at Trendz that opened 4 of its 10 stores, articulated the grim situation many clothing brands are actually staring at.
"We had prepared 20,000 pieces of clothing items targeting the Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla calendar. Of these, only three pieces were sold. And for Eid, we prepared 200,000 pieces and I believe almost all would remain unsold."
He predicts the Eid sales this season will be just 2 per cent of last Eid.
"With such sales, most of the brands will never be in a position to sustain. So, the government must come to our rescue and save us from the responsibility of space rent and utility bills," he added.
