School uniform sales slow

JAKARTA: Traders in Cipulir market in Tangerang have complained about the decrease in buyers of elementery school students' uniforms.

"Maybe the economic slump has partly caused the drop here," Gito, a wholesale trader, said on Saturday, adding that discounts would not effective in attracting buyers.

He set the price of Rp 120,000 for 20 uniforms for an elementary school first-grader, while the retail price is Rp 12,500 per piece.

Another trader, Heri, said that business this year was worse than last year. "Many parents have spent a lot more money on school tuition," he said.

He assumed that parents plan to reuse the uniforms of their older children for the younger ones to save money.

Rini, a resident in Petukangan, South Jakarta, said that she reluctantly bought two uniforms for Rp 70,000, one for her son, who is in junior high school, and the other for her daughter, an elementary school student.

"She could not wear her brother's old uniforms," she said.

Like the traders in Cipulir, those in Senen market, Central Jakarta, also said that only a few shoppers showed up to buy school uniforms.

Rus said she had no idea why business was slow.

"I'm tired of attracting buyers as they always want to bargain hard and ask for unreasonable prices," she complained.

She said that out of her total gross daily turnover of Rp 800,000, she only earned about 30 percent from the uniform sales, far below her expectation of 50 percent. --JP