Feeling festive:E. Susmiita showing some of the many homemade cookies her family sells outside their sundry shop in Little India, George Town, Penang. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Despite prices of ingredients soaring especially sugar, a businessman here in Little India has maintained the prices of the Deepavali biscuits in his shop to make his clients happy and come back for more.
P. Narendran, 46, said instead of burdening his customers with new prices, he decided to work with suppliers to reduce the profit margin.
“Despite the profit margin decreasing, I am selling the assortment of cookies at the usual price of RM9.90 for three boxes.
“I have multiple suppliers and we try and share the burden.
“We want to make it reasonably priced as it is the festive season and times are not great,” he said when met at his shop along Lebuh Penang.
Narendran who has been running his shop for 20 years said some larger boxes of cookies have gone up by around 5%.
“They are higher quality cookies but we are careful to make sure the customer does not feel the pinch.
“They have been loyal to me and I want to maintain the prices.
“So far, business is still slow but I expect it to pick up a week before Deepavali.
“The purchasing power this year has decreased and people are buying less now,” he said.
Trader E. Susmiita, 25, whose family sells biscuits and Indian snacks every Deepavali, said this year, they opted to bake most of the goodies themselves to keep the prices reasonable.
“Our profit margin has gone down but that is the only way to maintain the price low.
“Although it requires a lot of work to prepare the snacks ourselves, this way the prices are still reasonable and we know the quality is good.
“We make sure to fill the containers to the brim as we want to make sure they are getting a good deal,” she said when met at her shop along Lebuh King.
E. Susmiita said with Deepavali still two weeks away, the crowd was missing at Little India.
“Some probably are spending their money on new clothes and opting to make the biscuits and snacks at home to cut cost,” she said.
Microbiologist J. Darshikka, 23, who drove down from Sungai Petani with her family to shop, said the biscuits were reasonably priced.
“I expected the prices to go up as things are now more expensive but we are pleasantly surprised.
“The best part is that the biscuits are tasty.
I am here to get some for my friends at the office too,” she added.
Darshikka said she would buy more closer to Deepavali.
“We make muruku and other traditional snacks at home but always buy biscuits here in Little India.
Deepavali, known as the festival of lights, falls on Nov 12 this year.
