Susan Gordon, Business Reporter
Christmas shoppers looking for bed sheets last December. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.
During what could be termed Jamaica's largest commercial season for the year, 30 per cent of Jamaican male consumers have vowed not to spend money on anything this Christmas.
Those who have committed to spending said it would be largely on painting and repairing their homes or buying household items and clothes.
This seemed to be the trend when The Gleaner took to the streets and offices of Kingston and St. Andrew last week to find out from consumers what they planned to spend money on this Christmas.
From a sample size of 100 persons (comprising 50 females and 50 males) in eight offices and on the plazas, close to 50 per cent said they would either buy sheet sets, curtains, drapes, glassware, paint, tiles and other house-related items to fix up for Christmas or clothing. Thirty per cent who responded in this manner were female consumers, while 17 per cent were male consumers.
Wholesalers have attested to this purchasing pattern, as already they are seeing their vases and dinner sets disappear quite swiftly. In fact, a whopping 60 per cent of females planned to spend money on household items and clothes.
Home refurbishings
"Furniture, household items, linens, bedspreads. A lot of these are going because a lot of fixing up of homes is taking place right," confirmed owner of two popular wholesale and clothes retail outlets Bashco and MegaMart, Mr. Gassan Azan.
His fellow wholesaler, Sim Slung Chin, owner of the large Super Valu store in Liguanea, St. Andrew made similar observations. "We are getting a lot of activities out of that," said Mr. Chin, referring to furniture. "Everybody is painting up for Christmas and buying building material to fix up house and adding new fixtures basically for renovations."
He said people's strong focus on real estate value is a driving force behind their choice of spending.
Mobile phones and other electronics, which often make good gifts, accounted for five per cent of the purchases planned, but still fell below the 15 per cent of consumers who said they would spend primarily on toys and books or educational items for gifts.
"Gift buying hasn't started yet. People are taking care of themselves first," explained Mr. Azan. But players in the telecommunication say they see early signs of increased sales this year over last year in spite of the fact that only one per cent of the persons polled said they would buy a blue tooth phone this Christmas.
More sales expected
"We expect we'll do a lot more sales this Christmas," said Commercial Director of Digicel Jamaica, Harry Smith.
Public relations specialist for MiPhone, Helen Allison Minott, said the synergy with Flow plus MiPhone's Christmas promotions are impacting positively on sales.
Only two per cent of consumers polled intend to invest money into stocks or money market instruments this season. Not to be overlooked is the 22 per cent who adamantly professed not to spend this season.
"I'm not even spending any money on food much less," one female consumer shared with The Gleaner. "Since I've heard about the deals at KFC on chicken and fish, I will buy that for Christmas dinner instead of cooking all this food and having it get sappy in the fridge for weeks after Christmas and go to waste."
Sample survey done in Kingston & St. Andrew on what people are spending money on this Christmas first week in December
| CATEGORIES | WOMEN | MEN | % |
|---|
| Household items and home repairs | 16 | 11 | 27 |
| Clothes | 14 | 6 | 20 |
| Gifts(toys or books) | 8 | 7 | 15 |
Other (entertainment, investments) | 5 | 7 |
Electronics (phones, cameras etc.) | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Car or auto parts | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Not spending | 7 | 15 | 22 |
| TOTAL number polled | 50 | 50 | 100 |
