Electrical home appliance sales boom on hot spell

The ongoing spell of unbearable heat has pushed the sales of almost all electrical home appliances, especially air conditioners, air-coolers, electric fans and IPS up, shopkeepers said.
They said the sales of these items had witnessed a sharp increase over the last few weeks amid the continued rise in mercury level.  
The city dwellers experienced 40.7 degrees Celsius temperature Thursday, which was the second-highest in the last 54 years.
"The sales of electrical appliances have shot up by two to three times in the last one month. A large number of city dwellers are rushing to our showrooms every day to buy electrical appliances, and the trend might continue until rain brings a relief," Anwar Parvez, showroom in-charge of Hayes (Bangladesh) Ltd at the Stadium Market, told the FE.
"I have never seen such a big jump in sales of electrical appliances in the last one decade of my business. Today we have sold nine air conditioners, three air-coolers and twenty fans. The sale volume on a single day was almost one-third a month ago," he added.
"We are used to seeing a growth of 25 to 30 per cent in sales in April-May every year. But this year's business has stunned the shop owners," Md Masudur Rahman, an importer and distributor of air conditioners and other electrical items from China and Korea, said.
"Retailers have taken delivery of almost all the items kept in my warehouse. Now I have opened a new letter of credit (LC) for fresh imports urgently," he added.
Mr Rahman also said many of his fellow businessmen also had opened LCs and were urging exporters to ship the items urgently.
He, however, said the start of rain anytime might jeopardise their expected boom in business. Fearing this, many importers have opened LCs for a limited number of items.
According to Mr Rahman, demand for lower to medium-priced air conditioners is at the top.
Mrs Samia Abir, a customer at Baitul Mukarram Market, said she could not afford an air conditioner, but the sweltering heat had forced her to buy one as her two children could not bear the abnormal temperature any more.
"Being a middle-income city dweller, we can never think of an air conditioner, but due to the extremely hot weather none of our four family members could sleep fully over the last couple of weeks. If the heat continues, then we might fall sick," she added.
However, customers alleged that the shop owners had increased the prices of almost all the goods by up to 50 per cent, although the sellers showed the rise in prices at around 20 to 25 per cent.
After a visit to different markets selling electrical items in the city, the FE found that 1.5-tonne air conditioners were selling at Tk 53,000 to Tk 80,000, an air-cooler at Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000, electric fans (ceiling) Tk 2,500 to Tk 6,500, and a charger-fan at Tk 2,500 to  Tk 5,000 depending on its size, brand and origin.
Besides, an IPS (instant power supply) unit was selling for Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000, or above, depending on capacity.
Meanwhile, sellers of many reputable brand items alleged that lower quality and counterfeit products had flooded the market. A few shops were engaged in selling those depriving the customers of the genuine ones.
"Many importers import goods from China without logos, and paste the logos of different branded items here, which goes against ethical business practice," Abul Hayat, a salesperson at Esquire (General) Electronics showroom at Kawran Bazar, said.