Mr Price sales suffer from Angolan situation

IN its 2015/2016 annual report, South African retail group Mr Price says its international sales in Namibia were negatively affected by the Angolan economic crisis.

Namibia, which Mr Price says is its largest international market, suffered the effects of the Angolan crisis stemming from the recent plunge in global oil prices, which led to limited US dollars coming into that country.

A survey of most Mr Price shops in Windhoek, which used to be crowded with Angolan shoppers in the past, showed that they now have Namibians as the majority shoppers. A few Angolans appear, but they are not seen buying in bulk as they did in the past.

According to Mr Price, Namibia also suffered the effects of Angola introducing currency restrictions on cross-border shoppers.

The drop in Namibian sales was also worsened by a high base set by strong performances in the previous year.

Mr Price sales in Namibia were up by 22,1% during the 2014/2015 year.

The situation shows that Angolans in Namibia are no more as loaded with US dollar bills – which when converted to Namibian dollars appeared little.

Angola’s economy heavily depends on oil revenue, and a recent plunge in global oil prices caused an economic crisis in that country.

“While we anticipated a more challenging environment this past year, we did not anticipate how severe some of the factors would be because of the collapse in oil prices and the effect on resource-based economies,” said Mr Price in their annual report.

In May, The Namibian reported that shopping malls and retail businesses in Windhoek are experiencing a decline in the number of Angolans shopping at the malls.

During that time, Patricia Hoeksema, group manager of corporate relations at the Ohlthaver & List Group said while commenting on the situation at Wernhil Park and Town Square that the decline in Angolan visitors initially affected the turnover of some of the tenants, although not all of them were affected.

“The turnover received from the Angolan shoppers on a monthly basis has dropped from an average of between 30% and 40% to an average of between 10% and 30%,” she said at the time.

Hoeksema said tenants had torestrategise, and place more focus on the Namibian market.

Corlia van Tonder, marketing manager at the Grove Mall of Namibia, also told The Namibian at the time that the decline of Angolan visitors had affected business, but this was to a lesser extent as the mall was still new and had not really felt the full benefit of the Angolan market.

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