The hamper business usually booms during the festive period each year.
But it appears the situation is different this year as traders in the supply chain comment of a relative drop in demand.
Checks by Citi Business News at some cane weaving hubs in Accra also reveal that the general elections have had minimal impact on the sale of woven baskets.
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, Kwabena, who is has been in the trade for the past six years said sales picked up well few days to Christmas.
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He however indicated that the peak demand period has shifted from August to November due to a directive barring 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. But ever since the directive barring the purchase of hampers for public sector workers, our businesses have gone down. This year our market started to pick up after the declaration of the election results.”
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.
A 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 majority of which are stocked with food, cost between 170 and 300 cedis.
Rama who is in charge of packaging hampers and according to her, business has been very encouraging.
“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,” she remarked.
Unlike Rama, the Manager of the Adabraka branch of Melcom, Martha Kosicu describes sales as slow with just a day to Christmas.
She is 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”
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
