As soon as the Christmas shopping is over, it is already time for the winter sales which begin on Wednesday.
The period remains awaited by traders but loses its importance each year in the face of competition from online promotions, all the more so in the midst of the “tidal wave” of Covid-19 contagion.
The weight of the health context
This year again, it is the biggest question for traders: to what extent will the Covid-19 weigh on sales? “Given the health situation described as a ‘tidal wave’ by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, we are preparing for a possible digital edition for the 2022 sales”, explains the CEO of Relais Colis, Jean-Sébastien Leridon.
In the week preceding the start of the sales, the Covid-19 pandemic has indeed continued its outbreak in the world and in France, which does not necessarily make you want to go window shopping, even in the sense figured.
“The concern is strong, we see that the decision to put everyone to telework has already had a significant impact on the influx into stores, with in some cases a 50% drop in attendance compared to the year last ”, warns Florence Bonnet-Touré, general secretary of the national clothing federation (FNH), which represents independent businesses in the sector.
How to deal with private sales?
But this “anxiety-provoking climate” is not the only cloud on the horizon of the sales period.
Consumers on the lookout for good deals have noticed that private sales have already started, especially on the internet. More broadly, promotional operations have flourished in recent years, “which disrupts our benchmarks since, by dint of seeing products on permanent sale, consumers say to themselves that it is in reality the uncrossed price that is too expensive”, observes Gildas Minvielle, director of the economic observatory of the French Fashion Institute (IFM).
Last June, Amazon organized its gigantic Prime Day promotional operation on June 21 and 22, a week before the sales kick-off in France. A date fixed internationally but experienced as a “declaration of war” by certain French traders.
What leeway for traders, when certain sites, not domiciled in France, are not subject to sales legislation? The consumer association UFC-Que Choisir proposed to the Head of State Emmanuel Macron to take advantage of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, which “allows to influence the European agenda”, to better legislate on online commerce.
Inflation … in fashion too?
Another important uncertainty, underlines Gildas Minvielle: the way in which inflation will weigh on the fashion sector in 2022. It will not spare it, according to him. “Usually, fashion is a market where prices increase quite slowly compared to other products in the economy, but here we will undoubtedly see an increase. “
“The prices of raw materials such as cotton, oil, wool have increased, to which are added the problems posed by supply, such as the cost of freight, which weighs heavily on prices”, and encourages production less far than before, continues the specialist in the sector. In any case, the context of inflation risks weighing on sales during the sales period, because when other expenditure items are more important, consumers reduce the budget allocated to fashion spending.
Something to worry traders, to the point that, according to a field survey conducted by the FNH to be published soon, 8 independent traders out of 10 say they are worried about the sustainability of their commercial activity in 2022, according to Florence Bonnet-Touré.