Sales are expected to grow up to 12% in malls this Christmas, according to the association

You shopping malls should have a growth in sales in the Natal up to 12% in 2021, according to the president of the Brazilian Association of Shopping Mall Store Owners (Alshop), Nabil Sahyoun. In an interview with CNN this Sunday (19), he spoke about the scenario for the sector at the end of the year.

“Every year, even in difficult times, Christmas has always surpassed itself, especially now because of the pandemic, for various reasons,” said Sahyoun. With that, Alshop projects a growth between 10% to 12% compared to 2020.

Among the factors that should help the sector, he cites the fact that the party is “the most important of Brazilian families, in addition to the fact that people during the pandemic stopped traveling, there is a repressed demand. There is a whole schedule, at Christmas decorations, in which families like to go to the mall for a walk, and they end up shopping inside these malls, because with the protocols, all concerned with sanitary safety, the malls are specialists in this area , with more than 20 procedures”.

Another important element for the date is the temporary hires to help demand greater demand from customers. “This year we had 70 thousand people hired in 606 malls in Brazil, and around 15%, 20% become permanent jobs, it’s a good opportunity, if you have a good performance, and a good performance, you can transform from temporary to permanent,” says Sahyoun.

According to him, the expectation is that the clothing sector, with more than 50% of stores in malls, will be the one with the highest sales, followed by toys, perfumes, cosmetics and shoes.

Sahyoun also said that the period between Christmas and Christmas Eve it must offer good opportunities for consumers and help sales in the sector. “Many people ended up leaving a lot of shopping for the 26th, because they know that after Christmas, until the 30th, there is a very good movement”.

“First, there is the exchange movement, in which you end up also buying for January and New Year’s Eve trips, which generates a very large flow. There are promotions, the large chains, to close the balance sheet, end up making sales that reach 40%, 50%, so it is a very expressive movement and has been happening in recent years”, he says.

A survey by Alshop also points out that 49% of payments are in cash, followed by debit card payments. A novelty in the sector is payment via Pix, instant payment system of central bank.

For 2022, Sahyoun states that “we have a very large unknown. Of course, in times of crisis there are great opportunities to do good business. There are many retail brands that are, especially the big ones, and they are looking for opportunities. In the retail segment, those who take advantage of opportunities will have a good performance”.

The retail sector is a sector that is always optimistic”, says the president of Alshop, citing a recovery in the flow of people in malls compared to the pre-pandemic period. In this sense, the perspective for 2022 “is reasonable, not pessimistic”.

“We understand that in an election year the government usually works with incentives to generate jobs, with projects to make life easier for entrepreneurs, and we believe in this reasonable movement, of a growth that we should have”. it says.