Dazzling Promotions in Furniture Market（在线收听）

"Golden September and Silver October" is a traditional phrase in China, indicating the peak time for many businesses. But this year's season is turning out to be a sluggish one for many sectors, such as real estate, which in turn is having an impact on furniture sales. Many furniture sellers in Beijing are racking their brains about how to improve sales that are suffering along with the dismal real estate market as fewer people buy apartments and furnish them.

Let's follow our reporter Liu Min to find out more.

 
The discounts on offer at many furniture malls are high with some sellers offering as much as 65 percent off. The merchants not only are posting discount posters everywhere in door, but also promoting second-kill auctions on their websites. This is the first time they have resorted to a dual-strategy by selling both on the spot and online. Some customers say they've managed to buy their favorite items at low prices by bidding online.

"I bid for the sofa and got it for only 1,500 yuan and the CD shelf for 40 yuan. This chair was only one yuan. I got by joining the second-kill auction."

Furniture malls are promoting discounts on different brands at various times.

Song Hai, a sales manager at Juku Furniture Mall, says sellers are encouraging customers to do group purchases to get favorable deals.

"Every week we promote a certain furniture brand at the lowest price offered in the market. At the same time, furniture manufacturers and the mall need to give in profit for such campaigns."

High discounts can also be found for building and decoration materials.

Xu Hongsheng, a manager at Oulusha Bathroom Design Company, says his firm has had to cope with the dismal market situation. His company used to make a 20-percent net profit from sales, but now it gets only eight percent. Yet, the company must continue selling.

"Now fewer people need interior decoration because of weak sales in the property market. In order to maintain our market share, we've had to offer huge discounts, and hopefully we can sell more by doing this."

During the first six months of the year, both new and secondhand home sales remained sluggish. Take Beijing, for example. Its volume of real estate sales dropped 20 percent in August compared to the previous month. The situation has greatly affected furniture and building material sales.

Wang Linpeng is a market insider from Juranzhijia Furniture Company.

"The down performance of the property market has directly overshadowed our industry. The peak season this year won't set good sales records any more. We are now only hoping for a slight increase in sales volume."

But fierce competition among sellers has definitely benefited consumers. Many say they've been dazzled by all kinds of low-priced offers in the market.

"The deals are quite favorable now for us."

"It seems like the golden season is still a good time for us to hunt for economical products."

Market insiders remind consumers to make rational buying decisions when shopping during this period, not be blinded by discounts, and pay more attention to product quality and after-sales services.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.