12/16/2008 11h07
Sales clear stocks of durable goods
DCI - 12/16/2008
The pressure of the impact of the international crisis made the large retailers of household appliances, electronics and furniture expand their sales policy to clear the stocks of durable goods and heat the year-end sales, waiting to see the behavior of consumers in the first quarter of 2009. As the DCI verified, major store chains like Casas Bahia, Magazine Luiza, Ricardo Eletro, Berlanda and Lojas Colombo offered up to 20% off in the prices of some products in order to attract the consumers' expenditures with the Christmas bonus, mainly after they ended November with sales below the expectations. With the action of discounts, in which products such as a washing machine that used to cost R$ 1.5 thousand (US$ 652) is now sold at R$ 1,199 (US$ 522) at
Super Casas Bahia , for example, some chains foresee an increase of up to 30% in the Christmas sales, among items of high added value, for this end of year. Magazine Luiza, a São Paulo retail chain, with 449 stores in seven states, registered an increase of 220% in the volume of LCD and plasma screen televisions sold until last month, compared to the same period of 2007. According to Marcos Antonio Borges, São Paulo State Manager of the chain, "the great bet is on LCD televisions, cell phones, digital cameras and sound reproducers like the MP3s. We also purchased more toys, because we became leaders in this segment. In the executive's opinion, the most modern TVs generation "did not suffer the impact of the expensive dollar in the last months, on the contrary, the chain was benefited with the production at large scale when the dollar was still low, and the arrival of the digital TV increased the sale of such items". Besides, the company made part of its purchases before the crisis, as it inaugurated 44 stores in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo in September.
