November goes by quickly and a certain breeze greets all of us. The humid dry north air gradually spreads across the country in welcome of the holidays.
Although the weather brings some form of discomfort to citizens, for most people, that is the sign that the Yuletide is here.
Millions of people around the world will be celebrating the birth of Christ in many different ways. In many countries around the world, Christmas has been commercialised with the focus on bright lights, Santa Claus, mistletoe and gifts.
However, some countries have managed to maintain and promote the real reason for a season which represents a period of love, happiness and giving!
In Ghana, there is a mad rush in supermarkets and shops as almost everyone tries to do business before everything gets expensive. Families plan to spend time together and a lot of travellers return home.
Ghanaians, however, do not celebrate Christmas any differently from the rest of the world, although there are a few noticeable differences. Christmas in Ghana is fun and relaxing at the same time, but there are a few fun facts about the festivities in Ghana.
In Ghana, traditional Christmas observances revolve around large family gatherings, feasts, singing and church services.
Before Christmas day following the run up to Christmas (Advent), many churches blossom with flowers and palm branches and lights. Some congregations decorate a tree on the church grounds in honour of the coming holiday.
In the last few days before Christmas, jam-packed buses, trucks, cars and boats criss-cross the country, ferrying people back to their ancestral towns and villages where Ghanaians love to celebrate special occasions such as Christmas with friends and family members they have not seen in a while.
While some Ghanaians focus on the fun part of the season like parties, family gatherings, gift giving, good will toward others and happy music, others think of endless preparations such as cooking meals, preparing the home for visitors, putting up Christmas trees and decorations, the challenge of finding the right gifts and wrapping them.
For retailers of all types and kinds of products and services, Christmas means business— not to say they do not have good sales within the year but the season brings some kind of anticipation for profit and for most of the time they are not disappointed.
Retail establishments of all sizes— department stores, clothing stores, children’s and jewellery stores, toy stores, even drug stores and grocery stores— anticipate sizeable boosts during the year-end Christmas season.
The same applies increasingly to online businesses poised to ship goods of all kind to meet the holiday needs of their customers. For both physical and virtual businesses, this season often serves as the boundary between black and red ink on the balance sheets.
But is it the same this year, especially when government policies like Free Senior High School (FSHS) has relieved parents of having to celebrate a lean Christmas so they can pay their children’s fees when schools re-open in January 2019?
DAILY GUIDE visited a few markets to have a feel of how business was moving for retailers.
Our first Stop was a visit to the Makola and Kantamanto markets in the Central Business District of Accra. Although the area was filled with people, dealers in secondhand children clothing are complaining of low sales.
Several shops displayed brand new clothing for children, with prices ranging between GH¢30 and GH¢170 but they said the sale of both brand new and secondhand clothing for children is yet to see some boost.
The shopkeepers, most of whom were sitting behind their counters, looked disappointed hoping someone would walk in and buy.
“My madam brought only one container instead of the three and four she used to bring because sales are not good. She is scared they won’t buy. Sales are not as good as last year and I don’t know whether it’s because there is no money in the system,” Albert Appiah, one of the shopkeepers, said.
The situation was almost the same in the second and third shops; the only difference was that the vendors there were confident that sales will pick up before the festive season begins.
“Sales are slow but we just entered into December and so I believe it will pick up when get very close to Christmas,” Evelyn Adobea told the team.
At the yam market in Agbogbloshie, Nangeen Joyce, a seller said, “2017 during Christmas festive season I use to sell close to 200 tubers of yam per a week because the market was busy but 2018 the same festive time I cannot even sell 100 tubers of yam per week.”
Nangeen, who was surprised at the turn of events, indicated that this year the prices of foodstuffs have gone down yet there are no patrons.
“When buyers come and you tell them the price they say it high, last year I sell a tuber of yam at GH?6 compared to this year’s yam with the same size cost GH?5 still they are not buying,” she revealed.
Fresh pepper seller, Faustina Darke, shared the same sentiments that last year “by this time every place was busy, unlike 2018 demand for fresh pepper is low, and last year I sold a bucket of fresh pepper at GH?25 but this year the same bucket cost GH?15 and they are not buying.”
The situation is not different for Theresa Effah, a tomato seller in the same market. This is what she had to say, “Comparing 2017 to 2018 it is all the same but year is very hard, they are not buying as compared to 2017. Last year during festive season, I sold ‘olonka’ of fresh tomatoes at a cost of GH?10 but this year we have increased the price to GH?20. I think the price is scaring them.”
For Anita Mills who sells different types of spices, the reverse was true. She stated that “2017 was not good at all it was difficult for us, we hoped 2018 will be better belly few days to Christmas nothing is happening I see no difference between 2017 and 2018. For instance 2017 I sold ‘olonka’ of tomatoes for GH?15 but 2018 the same size cost GH?16 and the demand is low.”
Ophelia Kortei, a dealer in palm oil, thinks traders tend to play politics with the amount of money they are able to make at a particular season.
“The prices of commodities are normal and we need to take it like that, but we the traders have turned the market square into politics that is why some will say it is good and others say it is bad,” she mentioned.
Esther Boye is indifferent, as she said, “They are buying things, not all the times, the market is on-and-off, and we still sell. Last 2017, I sold ‘olonka’ of onion at a cost GH?10.00 and 2018 the same size cost GH?12.00 the CFA is gone high that is why we think 2017 was better than 2018.”
Ibrahim Sugri and Kenneth Adra, fresh meat, frozen fish and chicken retailers are surprised at the low sales they are getting.
“In 2017, I bought fifty pounds of meat a day because buyers were always here, this few days to Christmas I’m making losses because if I buy twenty pounds of meat I cannot sell it all. The increase in prices of commodities is another factor. For instance, last year during Christmas, sales were very lucrative because of normal prices. Last year, we sold a carton of fresh fish at GH?200 but now we have increased to GH?220,” they said.
As we have three more days to Christmas, vendors are hopeful the situation would improve for the best.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Paul Nyojah Dalafu