Glodok retailers worried about low demand during school vacation
Glodok retailers worried about low demand during school vacation
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Even though prices have dropped as the rupiah has gained on the
dollar, demand for electronic goods remains low because people
are preparing for the school holiday, according to retailers at
Harco Plaza in Glodok, West Jakarta.
"With the school break coming, I guess families plan to spend
more money traveling rather than on electronic goods," Paulus, a
retailer at the shopping center, told The Jakarta Post last
weekend.
He said that even though the U.S. dollar had fallen to a 33-
month low of 8,175 against the rupiah, prices had not had a
similarly dramatic fall and demand had failed to increase.
Also, he said, imported Chinese electronic goods filled almost
half of the shelves of the stores in the shopping center, and
their prices were not affected by the weakening U.S. dollar.
Sidiq, a father of two, was at Harco Plaza with his family to
buy a DVD player. He said he had been told that prices had
dropped because of the weakening dollar, which was why he decided
to buy a DVD player now.
"However, prices have not gone down too much, but because we
are already here we are going to buy one anyway, when we find one
at the right price," he said.
As the Post observed, prices of electronic goods such as VCD
players, televisions and radios have fallen by an average of 7
percent recently.
The price of a Chinese-made VCD player has decreased from Rp
240,000 (approximately US$29.36) to Rp 220,000 over the last
month, while the price of a Samsung VCD player has gone down from
Rp 440,000 to Rp 420,000.
A 21-inch flat screen Sony Trinitron television set now costs
Rp 2.3 million from Rp 2.5 million, while the price of a Toshiba
television set has decreased from Rp 2.6 million to Rp 2.4
million.
The prices of personal computers (PCs) seem to have been most
affected by the weakening dollar.
A brandless PC with an Intel Pentium IV processor now costs Rp
3.1 million, while last month it cost about Rp 3.5 million.
Johannes, a computer retailer, said now was the right time to
buy, because there were rumors that on Monday the dollar would
begin to regain its strength.
However, he was pessimistic that business would improve any
time soon, with families spending their money on vacations during
the school break.