Ice cream sales spike defying winter at Dhaka trade fair
Igloo, Savoy, Polar and Milk Vita are selling ice creams in pavilions
The popular belief that the demand for ice cream in winter is a little less will prove wrong if one visits the Dhaka trade fair.
At the fair, the pavilions and mini pavilions of various brands of ice cream remain crowded with buyers. The companies are making various offers and they are getting good responses.
On Friday and Saturday, lots of buyers thronged the pavilions of popular ice cream brands.
Employees of the ice cream companies say that their main purpose is to establish the brand image. However, their ice creams have been selling well and buyers are flocking to the stalls, especially after the noon hour.
Igloo, Savoy, Polar and Milk Vita are selling ice cream in their pavilions. Buyers and visitors at the fair are having a lot of fun buying and eating ice cream in between shopping and sightseeing. The salesmen at the ice cream pavilions are attracting the attention of the buyers by supplying ice cream wearing colourful outfits.
A crowd of buyers was seen gathering around Savoy's Pavilion with ice cream of different tastes in everyone's hands. Md Fahad came from Maghbazar with his friends. Three friends were eating Shahi Kheer ice cream. Fahad said eating ice cream has become a common thing at the fair.
Md Mehedi Hasan, a sales officer of Savoy, said ice cream has now become a regular product. Many people are having ice cream after coming to the fair. Our Shahi Kheer ice cream, priced at Tk100, is selling well. Lollipops are being sold at Tk15 and scoop of different flavours at Tk100 to Tk250.
He said crowds reach the peak after 3pm every day and sales are good especially on Friday, Saturday and Thursday. Our sales have been quite good from five days after the start of the fair.
Igloo and Polar are selling their scoop at Tk100. There are many flavours of ice cream including chocolate, mango and strawberry.
Igloo's brand ambassador Javed Khan told The Business Standard, "There is also Tk20 ice cream at our pavilion. The sale of ice cream at the fair is increasing day by day. However, the number of visitors and volume of the sale were higher when the trade fair was held at Agargaon in the capital. The sale at this new venue in Purbachal is two-thirds compared to the Agargaon trade fair."
Rumana Haque came with her two sons, sister-in-law and niece. All of them were eating ice cream. Rumana's sister-in-law is a Filipino. She has come to visit Bangladesh. She did not like that buyers were throwing out the ice cream packets here and there. "Everyone needs to put the soiled packet in the garbage can," she said.
Bipul Sarkar came to the fair with his family from Gulshan in the capital. Seven of them were seen eating ice cream. Bipul said, "There is a fear of corona infection, but what else to do. We need to go out with family members. Today is a holiday, so I came to the fair."
Mohammad Nahid, a salesman at Polar ice cream's pavilion, said, "We are selling cone ice creams at Tk50-70.
"We come to the fair every year for marketing. Promoting the brand is our main target."
At Milk Vita's stall, one kg ice cream box is selling for Tk174, choco bar for Tk19 and cup ice cream for Tk17. "Our cup ice cream is selling better," said a salesman.
In addition, various brands of ice cream are being sold at several food corners, including the Poonak Food Corner and Parjatan Corporation's canteen.
The 26th edition of the Dhaka International Trade Fair started on the first day of the new year. For the first time, the fair has been organised at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Center at Purbachal in the capital. The fair is held every day from 10am to 9pm and on weekly holidays till 10pm. The entry ticket is Tk40 for adults and Tk20 for children.
