T

he Idul Fitri holiday is supposed to be a happy time for everyone, but few retailers smiled as sales during one of the busiest shopping times of the year failed to meet their targets.

Many were quick to lay the blame for the dampened spending on the 44 percent hike in fuel prices in June.

The Indonesian Retail Merchant Association (Aprindo) says sales rose 20 percent the month before the Idul Fitri shopping season, compared to the same period last year.

However, many retailers had hoped the increase would hit 40 percent rise, the association says.

In 2012, Aprindo recorded sales growth of 30 percent during the Idul Fitri shopping season.

'[Apparently] shoppers changed their spending patterns. The increases in fuel and utility bills might be the influencing factors,' Aprindo deputy secretary general Satria Hamid told The Jakarta Post last week.

Consumers put more priority on fulfilling their basic needs, such as groceries and less on clothes and electronics, he said.

Monthly inflation in July jumped to 3.29 percent ' from 1.03 percent the previous month ' largely due to the fuel price hike, as well as the expected seasonal increase in the price of food during Ramadhan and Idul Fitri.

Big retailers tried to boost Idul Fitri sales with midnight and morning shopping sales, but to no avail.

Many retailers see Idul Fitri as the best month of the year.

'Christmas and New Year tend to be not as big [as Idul Fitri],' Satria said.

But for some at the higher end of the retail market, the best is yet to come.

Publicly-listed fashion and lifestyle retailer PT Mitra Adi Perkasa (MAPI), for example, says sales are usually higher in the fourth quarter, thanks to Christmas and New Year.

Customers may not shop as much during the religious festivities but they follow international fashion and trend seasons, MAPI corporate secretary Fetty Kwartati said, adding that their customers' buying power was unlikely to have been affected by the fuel price hike.

MAPI, she said, had not calculated how much its sales had gone up during the Idul Fitri shopping season but historically, revenues increased by around 20 percent compared to regular months.

Major department store chain PT Matahari Putra Prima president director Benjamin Mailool and corporate secretary Miranti Hadisusilo did not respond to the Post's repeated calls and text messages to ask about their Idul Fitri sales, neither did publicly listed electronics retailer PT Electronic City Indonesia commercial and investor relation director Ferry Wiraatmadja. (nai)