Low demand, higher prices dampen fruit & flower sales

Fruit sellers and flower traders are a disappointed lot this festive season as low footfall and poor demand have bogged their business down.

Fruit merchants blame the extended holiday (October 8 to 12) for their misery, while flower traders attribute the low demand to high prices. Fruit prices, though, remain stable at most outlets, except for a modest 5-10% increase at some retail stores owing to the festive season.

Gururaj H H, a salesman at a Hopcoms outlet in Nagarabhavi, eagerly waits for customers for the fresh stock of fruits. But sales have been poor over the last few days. “Last year, our outlet attracted lots of customers during the Dasara season and we reached our revenue target for October,” he said

“This time, we have got only a handful of customers.”

Santosh, a wholesale trader of fruits from Vignana Nagar, said the extended holidays has kept working professionals away as they preferred going on vacation. G M Diwakar, president of KR Market Flower Merchants’ Association, said business was low on Sunday, though it preceded two holidays (October 10 (Ayudha Puja) and October 11 (Maha Navami). “Along with back-to-back holidays, another reason for lower demand this year is that flowers prices have gone up by 30% over the previous Dasara,” he said.
 
Cheaper gold cheers up buyers
Lower gold prices have cheered up buyers in city. The gold rate decreased from Rs 2,910 per gram on October 2 to Rs 2,815 on October 9. Buyers thronged jewellery shops to buy the yellow metal. An employee of a leading jewellery shop on MG Road said the gold sales had soared over the past week.