Retail Sales Drop In December
Bermuda’s retail sales slumped by almost four percent on an inflation-adjusted basis in December, with new car sales registering a 35 percent drop.
Local retail sales totalled $105.7 million during December, 2011. This represented a decrease of 0.8 per cent or $0.9 million less than in December, 2010.
Sales activity increased in five of the seven retail sectors. Retailers of building materials registered the largest gain in sales of 26.7 per cent.
In contrast, sales of motor vehicles decreased 34.0 per cent. Residents returning to the island declared overseas purchases of goods valued at $6.1 million during December 2011. This was 23.8 per cent lower than the $8.0 million declared in December 2010. Combined local and overseas spending totalled $111.8 million.
After adjusting for the annual retail sales rate of inflation, measured at 4.0 per cent in December 2011, the volume of retail sales fell by 3.9 per cent.
The full report is below, click ‘Fullscreen’ for greater clarity:
I guess Paula’s cash grab at the airport isn’t doing much to help retail after all is it? Of course its deterring people from bringing goods back with them – returning residents declared $6.1 million in goods – DOWN 23.8%.
Time to start listening to Bob.
really you don’t say, i ordered a house sign from the engravers down washington mall on dec 16th for a christmas present I’m still waiting for it been in 3 times and the owner not there leave a message for her to call me and she does not finally got her yesterday and she went on about how she does not have the product and waiting for it Fine !!! but you know what theres this thing called a telephone pick it up and call you clients. this is why no one wants to buy bda as customer service does not exist and we can get better service by some one we can’t see on the internet or on the phone
Not only was local retail sales down after the 35% airport duty took affect in Nov , but overseas purchases are way down now TOO. WOW, NOW EVEN LESS REVENUE IS COMING IN !! REAL SMART
@Not a puppet
Less revenue is not coming in. 25% duty on $8mil gives $2mil while 35% duty on $6.1mil gives $2.1mil. The overseas purchases declared by returning residents would have to drop to $5.7mil with a duty rate of 35% for there to be less duty collected then on $8mil at at a rate of 25%.
However, I don’t think it will be too long before that happens.
Ride
Shockingly, Tourist-related retail is down 9.5%, despite 2011 being the second-best ever year for tourism! How interesting.
It’s hard for tourists to spend money if you make them line up for hours in Dockyard trying to get a bus, only to be told “no buses today”.
I agree. But our Tourism Minister announced yesterday with great fanfare that all is well with tourism, 2011 was up 12%, hotels were full, and it was the 2nd best tourism year on record. Yet, one day later, we’re shown retail sales figures that show ‘Tourist-related’ retail sales in December 2011 were 9.5% lower than the previous year.
An interesting set of stats. They don’t add up.
This doesn’t mean the ministers tourism stats are wrong. What does retail in Bermuda have to offer tourist they can’t get at home at a cheaper price? Tourist used to buy souvenirs from retail here but now souvenir retail think tourist are dumb. Souvenir retail here hardly stock anything really from Bermuda. Tourist do go in the souvenir stores but when in there they turn the products over & find its from another country then they leave empty handed.
There’s a souvenir store on front street that used to sell beautiful banana leaf dolls made by a Bermudian artist. Now they “TRY” to sell absolutely horrid looking banana leaf dolls made in the Philippines. The worst is they have a sign next to these dolls saying, “Bermuda banana leaf dolls” but forgot to take all the made in stickers off them. This goes for many other Bermuda made crafts that are being replaced by store owners with cheap knock offs.
Or, its “Sunday” all our stores are closed today.
When are the retail stores gonna get a clue?? For instance, Gibbons Co. has US prices… but if you don’t have what people want to buy the pricing doesn’t matter. The selection here is poor, and in most cases you can purchase exactly what you want online for a cheaper price… inclusive of shipping and duty. One more thing, why are most retail store closed at 5pm???? When most people are just getting off from work. Fire your buyers, catch up with the shopping trends and adjust your prices… Then you’ll see a change. Most Bermudians will continue to shop abroad no matter what the duty rate… because they will NOT be forced into buying over priced goods that they don’t want. If they don’t know what to buy… Check what’s being imported!! Duhh!!
Gibbons has us prices !! You must me jokeing some of their kids stuff is 3 times the prices of that from the usa
Toys at Phoenix are usually 300% of US. Infuriating.
i buy many toys from emoo and garden sales.
the child’s interest in a toy is very short-lived, so why buy expensive toys?
QUICK! Increase duty through couriers!!!…maybe we can get their figures to drop too…
Two thumbs up for money grabbing gone wrong. Retail sales are down and so are airport imports. Increase the courier duty rates and no one will be doing good. Misery likes company.
The Bottom Line is that these retailers have no clue what their customer demographic is, nor do they cater to anyone with discerning taste and an eye for style. Hire those that are interested in Fashion and Retail, offer internships,scholarships, whatever it takes, but it is time for these retailers to do away with their old business model and ideologies and embrace the talent and ideas on this island in this area. Obviously, what they are doing IS NOT working.
AMEN!
I second that!
This is exactly what we the public knew would happen. People will simply spend less altogether in Bermuda and oversees. How come the government couldn’t figure that out? This is how raising duty rates will negatively affect local retail. You can’t force people to spend their money. At some point you have to ask yourself, is your business sustainable? If not, what can I do to make it sustainable? Maybe listen to the suggestions of the consumer if you truly want their business? Lower prices, better selection, better customer service just to name a few.
Every so many months we see the same sob story about retail sales falling!!! Bah humbug!!!!!!!!! They will continue to fall and I will tell yoy why..Each time such a story is posted the PEOPLE of Bemuda offer solutions…While what they offer may not be THE solution never the less it is one…I have yet to see any of the suggestions even tried….No one is going to shop here because the selctions SUCK, they are OVER PRICED….Wouldn’t hurt to change hours of operations either…Instead of going against the grain try some of the suggestions that have been presented….The PEOPLE your CUSTOMERS have spokem….PAY ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!
Bernews – How many months have retail sales been on decline?
I love the smell of capitalism in the morning.
anyone ever give thought to maybe people are SAVING more and SPENDING less?
People are vanishing. X thousand people have left, x thousand people no longer buy things here, An aditional 3-4 thousand people are unemployed and are not getting any income to spend.
More likely they are paying down their debt and spending less, but you’re right, it amounts to the same grim prospect for the local economy.
Just some facts. Retail purchases from an overseas vendor:
(a) inland freight to deliver to the shipper.
(b) cost of freight to Bermuda.
(c) duty on all incoming merchandise.
(d) payment to remove items from dock or airport and deliver to retailer.
(e) insurance on goods.
(f) profit margin to cover the expense of operating in Bermuda, e.g. wages, social insurance, payroll tax, health insurance, private pension, all of which the local retailer pays half of every employee; rent (or mortgage), electricity, telephone, water and maintenance (to mention a few).
Hours of operation? The few who wish to buy after 5 do not warrant spending the additional monies to keep a shop open for those hours. Perhaps instead shops could institute their own surveys to see what their customers would like, but, for every hour a shop stays open everything increases in the way of expenses. Shoppers would have to be of a number to offset these expenses.
Just food for thought.
Just some other facts.
The headline-grabbing retail sales falls of 35% are driven mainly by reduced auto, marine, and food sales. Retail clothing, for example, has recorded increases over the last few months. Yes, increases.
There is nothing that higher import duties will do to assist retail sales of cars, boats or food. There is less demand for those items because less people live here now. When expatriates were moving here, they usually bought a new car, maybe a boat, and furniture. Now that they’re leaving, we have countless 2nd-hand cars for sale, and no demand for new ones.
Nobody ever brought in cars, boats or food through Mailboxes or Zipx. Cox is aiming in the wrong direction with her tax. All that it will do is take money out of people’s pockets that they may have otherwise spent. It will increase inflation and reduce demand. At the same time, it will add to people’s frustration with local retailers.
Of course the sale of clothing has a recorded increase with months of 30% 40% 50% off in clothing retail. If people think their getting a good deal instead of shafted they’ll buy more. Hopefully the clothing retail sector will learn from this & start offer decent prices year round.
I don’t see why food sales would be down. We still have over 2000 foreign workers in the non IB sector. The over 2000 non IB plus the 64,000 locals plus the remaining IB workers should keep food sales high since everybody’s gotta eat. I would think the sale of rice here would at least be significant.
Water filter for refrigerator (same make and model)
Bermuda Gas $102.75
Online $27