Furniture sales in the country, especially in Sindh and Punjab regions, are gaining momentum and dealers said their sales have recorded an increase of 60 to 70 percent mainly after Eidul Fitr.
Furniture sales in the port city of Karachi surged due to the marriage season; however, sales in Punjab soared because the harvesting session has been completed and farmers are coming from villages to cities for fulfilling their needs.
Shopkeepers, who were sitting idle even during Ramazan considered to be a 'golden period' for the furniture market, are seemed delighted now, as they have been receiving big orders.
Business activities at furniture markets of Karachi have recorded a mammoth growth as the marriage season has begun and people have started to rush toward furniture markets located in different areas of the metropolis for booking of bedroom sets, dinning tables and sofa sets mainly.
"Hundreds of families are visiting furniture markets these days for observing and booking of furniture, which they mostly buy for giving dowry," said Atiq Mir, chairman, Karachi Furniture Dealers' Group while talking to Business Recorder on Monday.
Emphasising the tradition of the society, he said: "Albeit, people of our society term dowry a menace, nevertheless, they always come here for bookings and that is why furniture business flourishes every year during the wedding season."
The furniture business picks pace largely during the month of Sha'baan and reached its height during Ramazan; however, the buying frenzy continues till the month of Moharram-ul-Haram.
Furniture dealers have pointed out that the recently struck earthquake in the country has also diverted peoples' attention and their business activities were partially paralysed during Ramazan.
A furniture dealer, who normally received five customers daily, is now dealing with 30, however, dealers informed, sales of dinning tables and sofa sets have touched its lowest ebb.
"Actually a number of families have been shifted to small-sized apartments, so they do not have sufficient space for dinning tables and big sofa sets," said Muhammad Saeed Multani, supervisor of a 3-star furniture at Aram Bagh market.
He said people now choose a sofa set that looks decent and occupy less space.
Furniture dealers mentioned most of the people prefer to buy furniture of average quality as they are unable to pay Rs100,000 for a bedroom set.
"People normally do buy a bedroom set that costs between Rs30,000 to Rs55,000 and the deco furniture has attracted a number of customers, who previously asked for polished furniture," Atiq Mir remarked.
He mentioned an average quality bedroom set of deco is available at Rs40,000-100,000, while an average quality bedroom set of wrought iron is being sold at Rs30,000-35,000 in markets.
However, in the category of polished furniture, a bedroom set costs around Rs25,000-50,000.
Likewise, sale of mattresses also rose significantly and their sale have also gone up to around 60 to 70 percent.
"Sale of mattresses is almost directly proportional to bed sales," said a dealer, adding a high quality spring mattress is available at Rs5,500, while a foam mattress is being sold at Rs6,700.
It is pertinent to note here that more than 2,500 shops are operating in different areas of Karachi including Aram Bagh, Gharibabad, Nagan Chowrangi, Muhammadi Colony Mehmoodabad, Garden road, Ibn-e-Sina market Liaquatabad and Ayesha Manzil, F.B. Area.
Comments
Comments are closed.