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Sales low in first weekend of Dihua shopping festival

The first shopping weekend of this year's Taipei Big Street New Year Shopping Festival saw a 30 percent and 20 percent decline in sales and the number of visitors respectively, shop owners and vendors on Dihua Street (迪化街) said yesterday.

As a result of price hikes, fewer shoppers are indulging in New Year shopping sprees this early, with the Lunar New Year still more than two weeks away, they said.

"The surge in prices has lowered [consumer] buying power by 30 percent compared with last year. Moreover, consumers have become more conservative -- purchasing only half the amount as they used to," one distributor, who sells mushrooms, said yesterday, declining to give his name.

He said more consumers were browsing the New Year selections without buying.

Amid an economic downturn, the 19-day shopping festival, which started last Friday in five business blocks around Dihua Street, is expected to last until Feb. 5 -- one day before Lunar New Year's Eve.

Many shop owners and vendors at Dihua Street said they had refrained from raising prices.

The exception is mushrooms, which have seen a 40 percent price hike because of insufficient supply.

"The government ban on mushrooms from China is the main reason," the distributor said.

Family-run Pai An Herbs and Ginseng Inc (百安堂蔘藥行), also on Dihua Street, sells a variety of foods and medicinal herbs.

"Our business is not as affected by the economic downturn since prices are low. Customers who usually buy our goods will return," the owner, surnamed Kuo, said.

"The effect that the M-shaped society phenomenon has on consumers is becoming evident at Dihua Street, with consumers buying either expensive or cheap goods," Kuo said.

Shops selling mullet roe are concerned that weak consumer confidence could eat into their business.

"Sales of roe dropped 20 percent to NT$800,000 during last year's festival from a year earlier. That means poor prospects for sales to improve this year. I just hope business will be at last year's level," said Lin Tsung-yen (林琮諺), a Yunlin County-based distributor who has been selling roe on Dihua Street for 12 years.

But some small, decades-old firms are finding ways to reach a wider consumer base. Karen Lin (林珮樺), of the 95-year-old shop Six An Herbs and Ginseng Inc (六安堂參藥行), said its Web site, launched five years ago, accounts for 30 percent of its sales.
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