RETAILERS have reduced prices by between 10% and 15% for the upcoming festive period to boost demand.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
A survey by NewsDay found that retailers had reduced prices by an average of between 10% and 15% through promotions that will run till the end of the year, with some pushing till New Year.
This comes as retail prices for certain basic commodities such as cooking oil have been higher owing to delays in manufacturers paying their foreign suppliers, as the central bank plays a balancing act with foreign exchange.
These delays have been experienced for goods that are locally sourced most notably cooking oil causing retailers to demand cash from shoppers despite the cash shortages.
Stores such as TM Pick n Pay, Spar Zimbabwe and Food World are currently working on festive promotional prices for consumers.
Sources say OK Zimbabwe was working on something similar.
TM Pick n Pay managing director, Malcolm Mycroft said they were pursuing an aggressive promotional price campaign for the season.
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He said they had been running this campaign since “last week”.
Spar Zimbabwe managing director, Terence Yeatman said they would be reducing prices by between 10% and 20%.
“We are running a promotion, where our prices will be reduced by between 10% and 20% right through to the end of the year,” he said.
Food World marketing and sales director, Tendai Chisvo said the festive season promotion would be on selected products for the rest of month at a 10 to 15% reduction in price.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) confirmed that for fast moving consumer goods, retailers had reduced prices across the board for the festive season.
Fast moving consumer goods are products that are sold quickly at a relatively low cost, which include non-durable goods such as soft drinks, toiletries, over-the-counter drugs, processed foods and many other consumables.
CZR president, Denford Mutashu said clothing retailers have knocked off an average of 15 to 20%, while hardware and electronics shed an average of 15 to 25%. On a national level across the entire retail sector, prices have been reduced by an average of 5%.
