Sultan Allan, head of the Clothes and Shoes Merchants Syndicate, said that there are indications of a relative improvement in the demand for buying clothes and shoes with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, expecting that this improvement will continue during the next few days with the advent of Eid, especially in the event that employees’ salaries are paid.

Despite this, the demand for clothes and shoes decreased compared to last season, due to the decline in the purchasing power of citizens and the focus of their purchases on foodstuffs and Ramadan commodities, according to Allan, who explained that e-commerce operations received a clear share of purchases of clothes and shoes and reflected negatively on merchants.

Allan added to The Kingdom that e-commerce has a large financial capacity that is not available to merchants in the sector and pursues a dumping policy with the aim of taking over markets in the future, calling on government agencies to address the challenges facing the sector and reconsider the customs duties and taxes it pays.

Regarding the price levels, Allan indicated that they are the same prices as last season, and there have been no increases except for some imported items due to their high costs from the source.

He explained that the clothing and footwear sector, like other economic sectors, is going through stressful conditions and suffers from a tangible stagnation. What forced merchants to resort to discounts and sell almost at the cost of goods.

It is noteworthy that the majority of Jordan’s imports of clothing come from Turkey and China, along with some Arab, foreign and Asian countries, while the clothing and footwear sector in Jordan includes more than 11,000 merchants and employs about 60,000 workers, most of whom are Jordanians.