Sales of different types of electrical and electronic home appliances, especially refrigerator and pressure cooker have shot up significantly ahead of the Eid-ul Azha and Puja, shopkeepers said.
They said sales of these items witnessed a sharp increase over the last few days as the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims and the Hindus - Eid-ul Azha and Durga Puja are set to begin almost at the same time this year.
"The sales of electrical and electronic home appliances have almost doubled in one weak. A large number of city dwellers are rushing to our showrooms every day to buy the appliances, and the trend might continue until Eid and Puja," Anwar Parvez, showroom in-charge of Hayes (Bangladesh) Ltd at the Stadium Market, told the FE.
"Today we have sold nine deep freezer, 11 refrigerators, 13 pressure cookers, five micro ovens, seven induction cookers and others. The sale volume on a single day was almost half a month ago," he added.
"We are used to seeing a growth of 50 to 60 per cent in sales ahead of Eid-ul Azha every year. But this year's business has stunned the shop owners," Md Masudur Rahman, an importer and distributor of freezer, refrigerator and other electrical and electronic items from China and Korea, said.
"Retailers have taken delivery of almost all the items kept in my warehouse. Now I have to open new letter of credit (LC) for future business," he added.
According to Mr Rahman, demand for lower to medium-sized and priced electronic items is huge.
Mrs Tuba Khanam, a customer at Kawran Bazar area, said there are limited spaces in a normal refrigerator for regular household use but preservation of meat during Eid needs extra spaces for which she decided to buy deep freezer.
Tanzina Ahsan, another customer at the city's Stadium Market said she needs a bakery woven to make kebab and other special dishes during the festival time and round the year.
However, customers also alleged that shop owners have increased prices of almost all the goods by up to 50 per cent although the sellers estimated the rise in prices at around 15 to 20 per cent.
"Traders across the globe decrease prices of goods during any festival but in our country the scenario is different. Here, prices of almost all the items increases ahead of almost all the big festivals. It is really shocking," said a customer.
Meanwhile, after a visit to different markets selling electronic items in the city, the FE correspondent found that a 12.5 cft Freezer was being sold at Tk35,000, 200 litre refrigerator Tk31,500, 28 ltr micro-oven Tk13,500, 28 ltr bakery-oven Tk4,300, 6.5 ltr pressure cooker Tk1,650, double gas stove Tk3,250, rechargeable fan Tk2,500, medium sized blender Tk2,500 and an induction cooker at Tk3,500.
The price of the items varies depending on their size, capacity, brand and origin.
Meanwhile, sellers of many reputed brand items alleged that lower quality and counterfeit products have flooded the market. A few shops are 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. This practice goes against ethical business norms," Abul Hayat, a salesperson at Samsung Electronics' showroom at the Stadium Market said.
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