The Chinese Santa Claus (Soft toy) seem to be giving a tough competition to its Indian counterpart as the locally made Santa Claus is failing to appeal to the customers who tend to buy the best looking items. The more attractive Chinese Santa Claus is dominating the sales in the Christmas market.
“These things are not produced in the country in a large scale. All these toys come from China. If you compare the quality of the goods Chinese goods are better. Most of the toys and gift items we sell are ‘made in china’ only. In my shop almost all the gifts are imported from China only.” said Rahul Kumar Gupta, a Christmas shop owner near Sarjana Chowk.
In the festive spree people do not mind preferring the expensive Chinese goods. They don’t give much thought about the origin of the product as long as it is of the best quality and looks attractive over the Indigenous Santa Claus.
“The India Santa Claus is available in the market from `40 to `220. The Chinese one is expensive. It starts from `200 to `650.” said Aman a Christmas stall owner.
“I buy what looks more attractive to me. And moreover Christmas comes once in a year so I go for the best one in looks and price both.” said Anjali a customer at the Christmas shop.
“We don’t have much choice as the whole market is flooded with Chinese gift items only. There are very less number of Indian goods in the market. If you pick up any toy you will see that it is ‘made in china’.” mentioned Ruby a customer.
It is very common to see the Chinese made toys flooded in the market. The Indigenous soft toys are very less to see. “All the goods are Chinese. We get all our goods from the wholesale market which sells Chinese imported goods only. Hardly there are any Indian manufactures toys in my stall.” said Archana the owner of yet another Christmas stall at the Christmas market.
If the Chinese Santa Claus is leading ahead in the popularity among people the reason for this is also very clear. Conspicuously there is a difference in the quality of both the Chinese and Indian Santa Claus. “The Indian made Santa Claus is stuffed with cotton over the plastic base, whereas the Chinese one is made up of better material comparatively,” said Rahul, pointing at the two different types of Santa Claus available in his store.