Payment of the first part of Christmas Bonus shall speed up sales of home appliances and clothing
DCI
The perspective of the advance payment of 50% of the Christmas Bonus, to be paid by the INSS (Social Security National Agency) in the beginning of the second half this year, starts exciting the national retail: after all, the volume corresponds to an injection of at least R$ 7.982 billion (US$ 5 billion) in the economy of the country, if we consider that at least the same value received last year will be applied this year. The value has not yet been confirmed by the Social Security Ministry, but should that happen Brazilians will allocate the benefit at three destinations: payment of debts, buying of clothes for the winter and electronics and home appliances, and savings, according to analysts.
For the analyst of the Federation of Commerce (Fecomércio), Fábio Pina, the payment of debts and the buying of clothes for the winter will be the priority. "This time of year people still have leftover of debts started at the beginning of the year and, at the same time, they need to buy winter clothes", explains Pina. He says with the injection of the value and the result of the month of May - month of one of the most important dates in the retail, Mothers' day -, the sector should grow between 5% and 10% in the period. Another data pointed to by the analyst of Fecomércio is that the second part of the Christmas Bonus has greater representativeness in the retail, because the value to be inserted in the economy is, on average, R$ 10 billion (US$ 6.3 billion). At the occasion, consumers will likely use the volume to buy Christmas gifts. "The end of the year is a time when people want to renovate their homes and buy gifts for friends and family. They forget the taxes they will have to pay in the next half", he said. To the Chief Economist of the Commercial Association of São Paulo, Marcel Solimeo, "the value helps, it is always beneficial to make the economy and the retail of the country move, but it does not lead to a more accelerated growth of the sector", he emphasizes.
The entrance of that amount together with winter leads chains like the Pão de Açúcar Group (GPA) to expect to increase the sales of heaters in 50% in 2011. In the textile sector, growth should achieve 12% compared to the same period last year. The footwear sector also invests in the period to leverage the sales: an example is the shoe brand Miss Shoes, which should launch nearly 500 models of women's shoes and open 12 franchise stores until end of year to achieve a earnings of R$ 2 million (US$ 1.3 million) in 2011, growth of 20%. As regards the clothing group Marisol, which owns the brands Babysol, Pakalolo, Lilica & Tigor and Rosa Chá, it aims to growth of 30% by the end of the year by means of the opening of stores and improvement of the economy.