Early shopping bodes well

ACCORDING to a Stats Brochure published by KZN Tourism this year, Zululand secured 19% of the domestic trips in the province for 2015, coming in at second after Durban.

While official figures regarding tourism in Zululand for 2016 are yet to be released, shopping centres and malls have already encountered a vast increase in numbers.

Store manager of Game Empangeni, Kevin Bothma, noted an incredible influx of people thus far.

‘If I look at the reports, we are definitely picking up and are much busier than last year.

‘Even now as we speak the tills are full; people are definitely spending a lot more this year.

‘In terms of Black Friday, we tripled our figures from last year. It was hectic we, didn’t expect that,’ said Bothma.
Sanlam Centre has also seen a major increase in the number of feet through the door.

Portfolio Manager, Marina Roets, duly noted incredible growth, most of which has been attributed to Black Friday.

‘In terms of national clothing stores for Black Friday we have seen an average of 70% growth this year in comparison to last year.

‘Supermarkets grew by a minimum of 30% and there were even stores that had 100% growth and more.

‘It has really kicked off with a bang and as we step into the festive season we expecting a very busy Christmas.’

Busy end of year
Roets emphasised retailers need to have the right stock to generate good sale figures, especially during this time of the year.

‘If it’s not according to demand or you don’t have sufficient stock, then you simply can’t expect to do well this festive season.

‘That’s why market research and keeping up with current trends is so important.’

Riana Mathee from the Boardwalk Inkwazi shopping centre also noted an increase in shoppers.

‘By just looking at the vast numbers of people coming into the Boardwalk this festive season, I can safely say that so far we have been a lot busier than last year.

‘We did extremely well on Black Friday and we can’t complain about that – it’s definitely looking like it is going to be a busy end of year for us,’ said Mathee.

Ravin Pirumol Store Manager of Five Ways Mall said they too are extremely busy, but have been consistently busy during the festive season over the years.

‘It’s picking up very fast and every day we are getting more and more people, but so were we last year.

‘In my opinion it’s pretty much the same as in previous years, but I can safely say we haven’t reached the peak of our business yet.’

With the best of the month yet to come, Zululand without a doubt will be geared up to welcome the masses, and by the sounds of things, seems set to host more than the 1.1 million visitors who visited the area last year.

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