MANSI BHAMBRI | Dehradun
The ongoing pre-monsoon showers, coupled with forecasts for more in coming days, has led to a significant decline in the sales of coolers and air conditioners in Dehradun. According to the local electronic items shop owners, sales have dropped by an average of 50 per cent this year compared to the previous year. While voicing concerns about the impact of this downturn on their cooler and AC businesses, they said that though the volume of sales has plummeted their expenses like warehouse rents have not decreased a bit. This has been putting pressure on them, runs the common refrain among these shop owners.
An owner of a shop in Dehradun, Siddharth Hurla said that pre-monsoon showers and fluctuations in temperature have led to lower sales of coolers and air conditioners this year. “Last year, things were different. Around this time last year, temperatures kept exceeding 40 degrees Celsius which led to surging sales. As per the forecasts, things should have repeated this year too, but the early rains have changed things for us, in particular. We are suffering a 60 per cent drop in cooler sales and a 40 per cent decline in air conditioner sales,” he added.
He further said that coolers are sold mostly in April and May. “But this year, as May is ending, we have observed a noticeable decline. We are incurring losses on two counts-drastic drop in sales and continuous payment of rent for warehouses where we stored coolers and ACs,” he observed.
Another seller of electrical items from Raja Road, Amit Jain echoed the same concerns, stating that while the volume of cooler sale is almost nil, the same regarding ACs has dipped substantially. “As per my estimate, the sales this year have dropped by an average of 80 to 90 per cent. Things are unlikely to look up for the remainder of the summer. This is particularly so for coolers whose sales usually peak in April and May,” he said, adding that they had faced a shortage of coolers last year in view of the huge spike in demand. “Unlike last year, there are hardly any takers for them this year,” he said despairingly.
The Pioneer spoke to another shop owner, Sanjay Kothiyal and he said the same. “The sale of coolers at my shop has dropped by an average of 20 per cent this year compared to last year. True, there has been some demand for metal coolers from customers, it is not as high as it was in previous years,” he lamented.
