It appears that the June sales of notebooks have been hard hit by the weakness of the rand, as buyers hold back on purchases, hoping the exchange rate might improve.
This is the opinion of Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, who says: “The rand/dollar exchange rate has definitely affected our June sales. Due to the complications caused by the weak rand there are also stock shortages – and users are also reluctant to pay higher prices.
“Additionally, the fluctuation of the rand means that it takes companies longer to manage internal administration process –and to submit quotes for clients. This has also affected sales.”
But Riley believes that consumers “will get used to” the current weakness of the rand and will start buying again soon.
“We are trying to stabilise our pricing for our clients and are doing our best to make sure we have stock. But I do expect a slight uptick in sales in July and then further improvements in August and September.
“It is unlikely that the rand is going to recover significantly any time soon – so those purchases currently put on hold will start to come through,” says Riley.