However, business owners in Minas Gerais are confident about sales in the first half of 2020. Although the vast majority (74%) are betting on a better performance for the sector, compared to the second half of 2019.
Optimism is mainly influenced by Mother's Day (41.5%), considered the most profitable commemorative date for commerce during the period.
Sales Expectations
This is a finding from the Sales Expectation survey, prepared by the Economic Studies area of Fecommerce MG.
The survey indicates that other commemorative dates such as Carnival (24.1%), Valentine's Day (16.5%) and Easter (13.4%) should also contribute to sales growth in the first half of 2020.
The analysis highlights that advertising and publicity will continue to be the main measure for attracting customers during this period.
According to Fecomércio MG economist Bárbara Guimarães, investing in sales activities such as advertising, promotions and commemorative dates has been advantageous for commerce, especially in the last half of 2019.
"We observed that approximately 47% of those interviewed stated that sales volume improved in the second half of the year, compared to the same period in 2018. If we compare it to the first half of the previous year, approximately 57% of the entrepreneurs noticed a significant increase in sales," he explains.
Good Prospects
According to the survey, optimism/hope was the reason cited by 68.61% of business owners to justify the positive outlook. "This perception is also supported by improving economic indicators.
Thus, some segments, such as stationery, construction materials, and personal and household items, tend to be in greater demand in the first six months of the year, which reinforces this optimistic expectation among business owners,” the economist emphasizes.
To boost the sector, 34.9% of the businesspeople will invest in media and advertising actions, 34.7% intend to carry out promotional and liquidation actions and 21.5% bet on differentiated service to boost sales.
The payment method that should stand out in the semester is the credit card, a method indicated by 50.7% of businesspeople.
The survey also found that the main obstacles to consumption should be the country's economic situation (28.6%); other reasons such as the rise in meat prices, the dollar, fuel prices, the municipal elections (22.8%) and unfair competition, indicated by 12.7% of those interviewed.
The survey was conducted between January 3rd and 20th, 2020. In total, 396 companies were evaluated, at least 40 in each of the ten planning regions of Minas Gerais. The margin of error for the analysis is 5%, with a confidence interval of 95%.