Easter sales fall more than expected

The weak sales performance of Easter, the first commemorative date of the year for trade, indicates bad perspective for retail in 2015. Three surveys of sales made by different entities point to the same direction: the result of Easter of 2015 was the worst for the last at least six years.
The largest decline was captured by the Confederação Nacional de Dirigentes Lojistas (CNDL) and credit protection service (SPC). According to the survey based on queries for purchases in the long term, the turnover fell 4.93 percent in the week before Easter this year compared to the same period in 2014. It was the worst performance for the last six years.
Boa Vista research services, which also is national, but includes the queries to the financial system, recorded a 0.30% indent sales of Easter week this year in comparison with those of 2014. Serasa Experian already photographed in turnover stability. But the results of both surveys are the worst of the past seven years.
"It was a much bigger fall than expected," says the Chief Economist of CNDL, Marcela Kawauti. She noted that the expectation was of a retraction of 2.5% in the number of queries in relation to 2014, but the fall was almost double the expected ( -4.93).
A strong indication that the deals weren't well was that many retailers began to reduce the prices of chocolate eggs on Friday before Easter, says Marcela. According to the Economist, which further weighed in that weak sales performance was the advance of inflation, which in 12 months accumulates high at 8% and are reducing the purchasing power of the consumer. "If consumers have less money to buy rice, it stands to reason that he will spend less with Easter eggs."
This is also the evaluation of the Boa Vista Services Economist, Flávio Calife. Among the reasons for the retraction, he adds the advance of foreign exchange and the tighter labor market. "The situation worsened," says the Economist, noting that low confidence functions as a bucket of cold water for consumption.
The Boa Vista Services expected that sales of Easter weekend could oscillate between fall of 0.5% or 0.5% high. The result was a 0.30% retraction that indicates stability, compatible with performance registered by Serasa Experian.
Promotions. Serasa Experian's economists highlight that even last-minute promotions were able to boost sales. Easter, remember Calife, gives a clue to what may be mother's day, which takes place on the second Sunday of May and which is the best date for retail in the first half of the year.
A survey made by the CupoNation portal, which enables the use of free coupons to purchase discounted items, reveals that Easter egg prices fell by 17% yesterday in relation to values requests on Thursday last week. Of the 23 eggs surveyed, there was a reduction of price in 9 of them and the Court varied between 4% and 17%, depending on the product.
On Sunday, even before the party ends, Lojas Americanas, which bills itself as the largest reseller of chocolate eggs in the country, sold many items with significant discounts. Sought, Lojas Americanas has not reported the result of sales. Other major retailers of Easter items, such as Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Carrefour and Walmart wouldn't inform the sales performance of Easter items, a sign that businesses may not have reached the expectations drawn.