National Day done and dusted — now what to do with ‘42’?

Those numbers won't be much use next year, so souvenir sellers had to be creative with the surplus.

With the big ‘42’ featuring prominently on National Day merchandise, what happens to unsold merchandise? Sarah Dea / The National

In the run-up to National Day, shops were full of merchandise with a big "42" featuring prominently.

But what happens to any unsold “42” items after the holiday is over? It’s not like they can be saved for next year – 2014, it can be safely said, will belong to 43.

Turns out, merchants have not been caught by surprise by the fact that those “42” items were perishable rather than perennial goods, and have taken steps to avoid having large amounts of unsold and outdated inventory.

“There are two types of branding, one that is engraved and the other that we can make in-house and we keep 300 to 500 pieces in stock and we can meet the demand as it rises,” said Lenny Ferreira, the director of Mustang Trading. “Therefore we did not have much wastage. We have been left with some stock balance on the engraved badge but when we look at what we have sold it is negligible. When we saw what we would be left with, two weeks before National Day, with each order we gave four to five pieces of “42” branded stock just to keep goodwill. We knew it was too late and it would probably go to waste and could not be used for next year, so we used it to build our company.”

The bonanza for the memorabilia market has allowed wholesalers and retailers to be very understanding over unsold inventory printed with a “42”.

"This was a fantastic year for National Day celebrations. The 2020 decision helped, we sold 60 per cent more stock than we did last year," said Bob Thayyil, a business development manager at Fakih Group of Companies that has 35 shops across the UAE, including Aladdin's Cave, Gifts World Trading, Tabsa Trading, Al Tarsh House Gifts and Gifts Tent.

“We took pre-orders from our retailers, before November, over the amount of ‘42’-branded stock they needed, so no one has been left with too much. Next year we have plans for 2,500 products for the UAE; this year we offered 185.”

The nation’s wholesalers look to have insured themselves against being stuck with overstock, ensuring the generic UAE colours were on sale and the “42” brand pre-ordered. The same could not be said for Expo merchandise, as any product designed for that eventuality carried a risk of uncertainty.

"We put 300 Dubai Expo badges on Souq.com and they sold for Dh35 apiece, every one," said Mr Ferreira. "That is incredible, but it was a risk for us as we didn't know whether we would win the vote and it was a gamble on it being so. The Expo win, the announcement of Flag Day and the National Day made all retailers happy as everybody made money, and everybody is happy at the increased potential of the holiday."