Customers abstain from spending money all month
"Moving out in the morning, moving in in the afternoon" is the phrase Mr. Ti (45 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City) used to summarize the business situation of his clothing store in this 7th lunar month.
"Many people, especially the Chinese, believe that this is a time to abstain from doing business and limit spending money on business. Therefore, most goods are unsold, and traders this month just... wait for the day to pass," said Mr. Ti.
Mr. Ti rearranges his goods, hoping the seventh lunar month will pass quickly so he can recover his business (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
Mr. Ti’s clothing store is located in the fashion district of Nguyen Trai Street (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City). This is the busiest shopping area in the city, but this whole month, the stores have only had a few customers.
Although many places have signs with 30%, 50% discounts or "free" sales, consumers are still not interested in visiting.
"In the seventh lunar month, revenue will be 50% lower than normal. Every year, because abstinence has become a habit, a personal concept of customers, shop owners have no way to avoid it. But compared to the same period last year, revenue in this year's "ghost month" is even worse," Mr. Ti commented.
In the past, the store's revenue could reach 5-10 million VND per day. Now, selling 3 million VND per day is already a great deal. If you calculate the cost of premises, electricity, water... the amount of money earned is just enough to cover the loss for the day," Mr. Ti confided.
According to the clothing store owner, the concept of abstinence only applies to a certain group of customers. For those who do not believe in spiritual things like this, the "ghost month" is not a hindrance.
However, this year, due to the general difficult situation, the wave of layoffs increased, many people were unemployed, which means that the group of customers who were not afraid of the 7th lunar month also... disappeared.
Opening early, Mr. Ti still sits in one place waiting for customers (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
Lay off employees
Mr. Ti said that his store had laid off two employees because there were no customers. Pointing to Nguyen Trai Street, Mr. Ti said that other store owners were doing the same.
"If you don't believe me, you can go to fashion stores from after 3pm until late at night. There are motorbikes parked in front of the stores, but they are employees' motorbikes, not customers'. Some stores have also laid off staff, some only keep one person in charge of everything from sales to parking," said Mr. Ti.
Business owners are sad as business this year has encountered many difficulties (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
Not only fashion items, real estate broker Hue Linh (23 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City) said that the housing and land sectors are also greatly affected by the concept of "ghost month".
At this time, brokers are quite idle because customers are reluctant to pay. Usually, customers will come with the main purpose of visiting, surveying prices and then waiting until next month to finalize the contract.
"Customers often limit buying houses in this month due to fear of bad luck, especially those who do business and believe in feng shui. In the 7th lunar month every year, the number of customers signing contracts and closing apartment purchases is usually 10-20% lower than in other months. Of course, this is also an opportunity for customers who do not care too much about abstinence. Customers will still choose to buy if they get a good price," Linh said.
Among the items, motorbikes and cars are always on the list of "things you should not buy during the ghost month".
Mr. Hieu and other used motorbike shop owners wait for the right time when customers avoid buying motorbikes in the seventh lunar month (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
Mr. Hieu (45 years old, owner of a used motorbike shop) said that from the beginning of the 7th lunar month until now, nearly 3 weeks, he still has not sold any motorbike.
Like every year, some customers mainly come to consult about prices, listen to legal advice, then make an appointment to come back next month to deposit money and sign a contract. However, if he says to wait until next month, Mr. Hieu cannot guarantee that the car the customer has chosen will still be available.
In addition, the new circular on identification license plates has just been issued, causing used motorbike shop owners like him to encounter many problems in handling legal documents for customers. Therefore, both the shop owners and customers are now almost "inactive", not interested in buying and selling motorbikes.
"Usually people will try to buy a car before the 7th lunar month, otherwise they have to wait until next month. During this month, sellers just sit and wait to get through the day and rarely sell any cars. Because this is a high-value item that is associated with life for a long time, customers are quite careful, everyone calculates to choose a good day and month to buy," Mr. Hieu explained.
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