The FINANCIAL — All the big stores, including Danish House, Goodwill and Carrefour, are expecting doubled sales of Christmas trees and decorations as demand is very high this year.
The FINANCIAL — All the big stores, including Danish House, Goodwill and Carrefour, are expecting doubled sales of Christmas trees and decorations as demand is very high this year.
A week before New Year the realization of Christmas trees and decorations has already increased at these stores, according to the retailers. The majority of customers prefer to buy plastic trees. Live trees are sold in very limited numbers.
2.3 tons of live Christmas trees worth USD 5,000 were imported in Georgia last year, according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia. The Netherlands was the only country from which live Christmas trees were imported.
“An average of 100 Christmas trees and 4,000 decorations are being sold at Danish House every day,” said Mari Chichua, Marketing Manager at Danish House. “We import Christmas trees and decorations from Amsterdam and Denmark. The prices start from GEL 29 with the highest price for Christmas trees being GEL 229. As for decorations, the lowest price is 40 Tetri. We sold about 1,000 Christmas trees and 80,000 decorations last year. This year we are expecting doubled sales as the demand for Christmas trees and decorations is high. Among them the most popular was the GEL 99 Christmas tree, which sold out in a very short period of time. This year, the bestsellers have been the GEL 159 (2.10 cm) trees and the GEL 129 (1.80 cm) ones,” she added.
“Goodwill has about 2,000 Christmas trees and decorations for sale this year, which we mainly import from Germany and Holland,” said Natalia Darchiashvili, Goodwill. “The price of a Christmas tree at Goodwill starts at GEL 7.95, going up to GEL 3,000. The most expensive Christmas tree is 3 metres in height. As for the decorations, Goodwill offers them for between GEL 2 and GEL 10. The price depends on the quality of the product. The most expensive decorations are Christmas figurines which cost GEL 25. Realization has increased by 10 percent in 2012 compared to last year. Demand is very high for tall Christmas trees which cost GEL 300-500,” she added.
“40 kinds of Christmas trees and about 1,000 different decorations are for sale at Carrefour at the moment,” said Sopo Azarashvili, Marketing and Database Manager at Carrefour Georgia. “We mainly import New Year products from France, Turkey and China. Customers can buy small Christmas trees for GEL 7.90 and medium-sized (150 cm) ones – for GEL 35. Low priced Christmas trees as well as Christmas trees made from real branches are very popular at Carrefour,” she added.
It is forbidden to sell live Christmas trees in Georgia if they have not been imported, according to Georgian legislation. The law determines that only imported, artificial or pot-grown Christmas trees will be for sale this year. The illegal transportation of Christmas trees will be fined GEL 1,000.
Cutting down Christmas trees from forest reserves is prohibited and is punishable by law. GEL 500 is the fine for cutting down a Christmas tree.
As for the decorations, Geostat provided this year’s data as well according to which 111.1 tons of decorations were imported, worth USD 906,000. China is the leading country from where the majority of decorations – 89.2 tons (USD 602.6) – are imported. Then comes the Netherlands with 14.3 tons of decorations (USD 189.5), United Arab Emirates – 3.5 tons (USD 29.4), Germany – 1.0 ton (USD 28.3), Hong Kong – 0.3 tons (USD 28.2), France – 1.4 tons (USD 12.0), Turkey – 0.2 tons (USD 4.2) and other countries – 1.2 tons (USD 12.2).
377,4 decorations worth USD 2,997.3 were imported in 2011. China is again the leading country followed by the same counties as in 2012.
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