Hamper business booms ahead of Christmas

The hamper business as usual booms during the festive period each year.

And this year is not an exception as traders in the supply chain have witnessed an increase in sales ahead of the Christmas.

The woven basket is an essential item for most gift shops and corporate institutions that offer hampers as gifts for friends, family, and staff.

One of the basket weavers, Marfo, who has been in the trade for the past six years told Weekend Today how happy he was considering how sales have picked up.

He, however, indicated that the peak demand period has shifted from August to November due to a directive from the past government which barred the sharing of hampers among public sector workers.

“For the past six years that I have been in this business, sales have been very encouraging and this “year is not exceptional”.

The weavers, who produce ten baskets in a day, also touted their ability to meet demands as high as 500 baskets in a day.

A small size basket costs 10 cedis while medium and large sized baskets cost 12 and 15 cedis respectively.

Our visit to some retailers of hampers told different stories of the hamper business, one of which was the Koala shop at Osu.

The hampers at Koala which majority were stocked with food, cost between 170 and 300 cedis.

“In a day, the number of hampers we put together depends on the number of customers. Our sales have however increased comparing last year to this year,” a lady who gave her name as Francisca at the place told Weekend Today.

Unlike Francisca, the Manager of the Industrial Area branch of Melcom, Martha Kosicu described sales as slow with just a few days to Christmas.

She was however hopeful business will pick up within the period.

“This year the hampers are not moving as fast as they did this last year. Last year by this time we had sold a lot of hampers. The price range of our hampers is from GHC50.00 to GHc250”, she said.