Enab Baladi – Ras al-Ain
The price of phones in the city of Ras al-Ain in the northwest of al-Hasakah experienced a notable decrease over the past weeks, accompanied by a decline in demand and purchase.
According to what was monitored by Enab Baladi‘s correspondent, the lack of demand pushed shop owners to lower their prices, but this did not stimulate the market, which vendors described as “stagnant and paralyzed.”
Enab Baladi met with a number of Ras al-Ain residents and asked them about the possibility of buying a new phone. The answers were similar, with some considering a new phone a luxury, while others attributed their reluctance to buy to the difficult living situation and their inability to afford it.
Yasin al-Mahdi, a resident of Ras al-Ain, said that he, like most farmers, had not sold his wheat crop nor the cotton crop, which means the returns from agriculture are frozen, and that residents are struggling to provide their basic needs.
Few sales
Yasin al-Sarmadi, a phone shop owner in the city of Ras al-Ain, told Enab Baladi that the decrease in demand for phones affected his business, with sales dropping by up to 50% since the beginning of the year.
Al-Sarmadi added that the lack of job opportunities and low wages in the city are the main reasons for the drop in demand for phones, making the purchase of a new phone not a priority for individuals despite the desire to buy.
He mentioned that he reduced the prices of phones by 30% to attract customers, but this did not stimulate sales, which remained stagnant.
On his part, Asaad al-Fatih, another phone shop owner, complained about the declining sales at his store and mentioned that he lost money as a result.
He told Enab Baladi that he reduced the prices of the phones by up to 35%, but the interest in purchasing is still weak, noting that the current lack of commercial movement is unprecedented since he opened his store more than ten years ago.
The price reduction came at the expense of the shop owners’ profits, leaving a very small profit margin.
Enab Baladi identified the most circulated phones in Ras al-Ain’s stores, including the Infinix brand, with prices for its Hot 10 model reduced from $100 to $86, Hot 20 from $130 to $105, and Note 30 from $140 to $125.
Shop owners also reduced the price of Redmi devices, which are the most sought-after, with the price of the Redmi 9A dropping from $115 to $95, and the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ from $300 to $265.
Samsung devices are less traded due to their high prices, with the price of an A15 5G phone reduced to $170 from $190, and the S23 FE to $500 from $540.
Maintenance is active
Another phone shop owner in the city, Salah al-Din al-Saman, told Enab Baladi that the lack of sales led him to focus on phone maintenance instead of selling them because maintenance requires less cost and yields higher profit.
He said that phone maintenance has become the main source of his income these days, as the demand for phone maintenance remains relatively high.
He added that the deteriorating living and economic conditions of the residents led them to rely on repairing their old phones instead of buying new ones, with their focus being on providing essentials such as food and medicine.
One sector, Limited income
Most of the 115,000 inhabitants of Ras al-Ain work in agriculture and animal husbandry, and the daily wage for any job such as construction or agriculture does not exceed 30,000 Syrian pounds (about two US dollars).
The director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city of Ras al-Ain, Habu al-Hadar, explained to Enab Baladi that the decline in sales of phones and electronics is due to the residents’ reliance primarily on agriculture, which has led to a decrease in the purchasing power of the population.
He said that the reliance on agriculture has led to lower income levels, making the purchase of new phones or other electronic devices a non-priority for them.
He added that the decline in sales of phones and electronics has significantly affected the owners of commercial shops in the city, who have suffered considerable losses.
Al-Hadar pointed out the necessity of developing projects in the city, which would help improve the economic situation in the area and raise the purchasing power of the residents, thereby increasing the demand for goods and services, including phones and electronics.
Ras al-Ain is located on the Turkish border, where it is controlled by the Syrian National Army (SNA) with Turkish support, and its political umbrella, the Syrian Interim Government (SIG). It is surrounded by frontlines with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the Turkish border is its only access point to the outer world.