Deepavali firecrackers: Online mode hits counter sales in Sivakasi

MADURAI: With just ten days before Deepavali, the sale of crackers is yet to pick up in Sivakasi, a major centre of fireworks, in the Virudhunagar district.

Though a good turnout of buyers is likely on weekends, unlike other days, this Sunday proved wrong, said T Ganesan, a retail trader in Sivakasi. Pointing out that the turnout was slightly better on Saturday and the sale is expected to go ahead from Monday, he said the retail traders are facing tough competition from online sites that offer huge discounts of up to 80 per cent and other attractive features.

“However, there are big drawbacks for consumers due to online marketing. Many IT professionals who ventured into trading during the Covid lockdown are engaged in the crackers business. Almost 60 per cent of shops dealing in crackers are run by such professionals. There are as many as 3,700 retail shops in Sivakasi selling crackers, but the Fireworks Dealers Association in Sivakasi has only 147 registered traders,” he told DT NEXT on Sunday. According to P Rajendran, the chairman, of the advisory committee of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Fireworks Traders, online sales rendered the highest over the last two months.

D Prabakaran, the president, of the Sivakasi Fireworks Dealers Association said it is certainly difficult to compete with online trading which has almost doubled over last year.