Prolonged cold weather causes fashion stores to 'push up prices' on frozen goods

Coming from Ho Chi Minh City to Nghe An to do food business, it was the first year experiencing winter in Nghe An so Mr. Thai Binh Dai (Vinh City) had almost no time to prepare anything. Besides, at the beginning of winter, the weather was quite hot so he was very subjective. The weather turned cold suddenly and lasted for a long time so he had to buy clothes, socks, shoes... However, he was quite surprised when the prices of warm clothes, especially winter coats such as down jackets, fat jackets... all increased in price compared to the beginning of the season from 10-30%.

Mr. Dai said: “In early November, when I went to buy clothes, I looked at some lines of winter coats, but because the weather was still warm and sunny, I subjectively did not buy them. On December 17, when the weather suddenly turned cold, I went to that store and chose the exact coat, only to see that the listed price had increased by 20%. Like this fat down jacket, the price at the beginning of the season was 900,000 VND, but now it is listed at 1,080,000 VND. I know it is more expensive, but I still have to buy it to wear.”

To serve the winter market this year, since the end of September, Ms. Nguyen Mai Anh, owner of a fashion shop on Nguyen Van Cu Street (Vinh City) has imported hundreds of down jackets, coats and wool coats. However, in October, November and the first half of December, the temperature was still at 28-29 degrees Celsius, so the amount of winter goods almost fell into a state of stagnation. She had to consider reducing product prices; launching promotional programs to attract customers, sell off inventory, recover capital and import Tet goods, but it was still difficult to sell.

So, the weather suddenly turned cold, the temperature dropped, the number of customers coming to the shop to buy all kinds of winter coats increased suddenly, there were few shops selling winter coats so the fat puffers and coats sold out quickly. Within just 1 week, the shop was "overwhelmed" with orders on both online and direct sales platforms, all the winter coats were sold out at high prices.

“At first, I reduced the price of the fat down jackets from 1 million VND to 799,000 VND; the trench coats from 1.5 million VND to 1.3 million VND but they were still difficult to sell. After the weather suddenly turned cold, I stopped applying the discount and sold them at the original listed price. In the past few days, the shop's wholesale products have sold out,” said Ms. Mai Anh.

According to records, at children's clothing stores, the number of shoppers increased dramatically, the amount of goods sold increased 5-7 times compared to before the cold. Ms. Nguyen Huyen, a children's goods dealer on Nguyen Sy Sach Street, said that due to habit, people wait until the cold to buy winter clothes. In the previous period, most customers only came to look at the designs and prices, the number of customers buying clothes was not much.

"When this cold spell began, our children's clothing store was much busier. The number of buyers increased sharply. We also proactively added more goods to serve customers' needs. However, at the end of the year, goods from China arrived slowly, and new goods had to wait a long time, so the warehouse was also depleted," said Ms. Huyen.

In the low-end segment, cheap down jacket stalls on Ngu Hai and Dang Thai Than streets, traditional markets and second-hand shops also attract a large number of customers. In traditional markets, especially Vinh market - which supplies wholesale clothing to district markets, this severe cold spell is also the best-selling time of the year. There are days when traders are busy preparing orders. Sales in the 10 cold days increased 3-4 times compared to the previous month.

“Right after the first cold spell, the number of orders from stores increased dramatically. Orders from retailers in the mountainous districts of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Que Phong, and Quy Chau increased sharply. The best-selling products are mainly down jackets, wool coats, wool hats, thermal shirts, and accessories such as socks and gloves. The remaining winter items have also been sold off quite a lot without any price reduction,” said Ms. Phan Thi Ngan, owner of a wholesale clothing agency in Vinh market.

According to weather expert Nguyen Ngoc Huy, Nghe An will have several more cold spells during the New Year and Lunar New Year; due to the winter season, the North Central provinces will have more rain and humidity than the average of many years, accompanied by cold. Therefore, the demand for warm clothes and clothes to wear during Tet will increase.