Fashion retailers foresee sales boost in second-half
Fashion retailers in the country are projecting higher revenues in the second half of this year, buoyed by the season of Ramadhan and Idul Fitri that was forecast to give them a sales boost.
Publicly listed Ramayana Lestari Sentosa, the Matahari Department Store and Mitra Adiperkasa are among the retailers reaping benefits from the festivities, during which buying new clothes has become a tradition for many Muslims in the country.
Ramayana director and cor-porate secretary Setyadi Surya |said recently that a huge sales increase in most of his firm’s outlets across the country would have started taking place in early July when most people received their Idul Fitri bonuses from their companies.
"We hope that sales during Ramadhan and Idul Fitri will |make up around 30 per cent of our total sales or revenues this year," he said.
Setyadi said that his firm aimed to at least maintain its revenue growth this year at a level of 8 per cent or 6.3 trillion rupiah (Bt16.4 billion), up from 5.86 trillion rupiah in revenues last year.
Ramayana, according to Setyadi, experienced a slow growth in the first half of this year as the country’s economic slowdown has heavily affected the firm’s major customers, who are from the lower middle class.
In the first quarter of this year alone, when the country’s economic growth hit 4.7 per cent, its lowest rate since 2009, Ramayana booked a 5.1-per-cent year-on-year (y-o-y) slump in revenues, down to 1.12 trillion rupiah from 1.18 trillion rupiah.
The company plans to slow down its business expansion by opening only one outlet this year, compared to two or three last year.
Matahari corporate secretary Miranti Hadisusilo said his firm would open around 11 outlets this year.
"We opened eight outlets before the Idul Fitri festivity and we will open at least three stores after the festivity," she said.
Sales during the festivity, which occurs in the second half of this year, were forecast to account for 30-40 per cent of the firm’s total sales this year, Miranti said.
Miranti said that Matahari would not be heavily affected by the weakening rupiah and the current economic slowdown.
Middle-income families have become Matahari’s major customers, with local brand Nevada becoming the most demanded in their shopping lists.
The firm’s revenues, however, grew by only 9.5 per cent y-o-y in the first quarter of this year, lower than the 17.5-per-cent growth recorded in the January-March period of last year.
