The losses of Ukrainian shopping and shopping and entertainment centers (malls) due to the government’s imposition of weekend quarantine during Black Friday ranged from 30% to 40% of turnover, the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers and the Epicenter K trading network reported to Interfax-Ukraine.
“Due to the introduction of weekend quarantine, the Epicenter network was visited by 750,000 buyers less than last year, and the losses amounted to about UAH 1 billion. The company planned to use this amount of funds to invest in the Ukrainian economy,” the press service of the Epicenter K told the agency.
The drop in turnover in Ukrainian shopping and entertainment centers during the weekend quarantine period amounted to 30-40%, the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers reported.
“We expected that the losses would amount to at least 12 billion per month, but in fact, the weekend flows were partially offset by the growth of flows on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. These days, the flow increased by 10-20%, and the quarantine itself lasted three weeks. As a result, according to our calculations, losses amounted to UAH 6-7 billion in three weeks,” the Council noted.
The Epicenter company stressed that the biggest blow to retail was the ban on trade at weekends after Black Friday, when consumers traditionally plan to buy gifts for the New Year. In particular, this year, due to the weekend quarantine, online sales during the Black Friday period decreased by 30% compared to the same period in 2019.
“The stoppage of trade during the period of the greatest consumer demand has significantly reduced the purchasing power of the population, hit domestic producers and will lead to a decrease in tax payments to the budget,” Deputy Director General, Director of Retail Trade of Epicenter K LLC Volodymyr Honcharov is quoted in the comment.
He added that the network cooperates with 5,000 suppliers, most of which are Ukrainian producers.
“Some of them have already announced the forced reduction or even curtailment of production due to financial problems associated with the lack of sources of sale of goods. In addition, the reduction of tax payments to the budgets of all levels will deal a significant blow to the financial support of local communities, especially in small settlements,” he beleives.
