The winter sales start on Wednesday.

Traders hope that customers will respond, despite the curfew implemented at 6 p.m. since Saturday and teleworking which is shaking up the consumption habits of the French.

Above all, all fear a new confinement. 

Top start for the winter sales which start on Wednesday, and not January 6 as initially planned.

Promotions and private sales have already started since the beginning of the month, in a context of concern for traders.

The curfew at 6 p.m., implemented in the national territory since Saturday, does not reassure sellers.

According to the clothing federation, the 6 pm - 8 pm slot represents 20% of turnover on average.

Another factor to be taken into account: teleworking which modifies, downwards, the desires of customers for new clothes.

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The furniture and household appliances sectors, on the other hand, hope to benefit from a forced return home.

Especially since the winter sales are traditionally a good period for the sector.

Customer adaptation 

There remains one unknown: will the French play the cicadas or the ants?

"I think the customers are going to be there. We can feel it: people adapt every day, correct their schedules", confides, optimist, Christian Beaulme, president of the association of traders and craftsmen of the Metropoles of France ( CAMF).

"This is what we are trying to convey to our customers: 'Come in the morning, there are fewer people, your stores will be open at least an hour earlier'.

"In any case, everyone is in the starting blocks for the sales, we are ready", assures the trader. 

The threat of a third confinement

In the smallest towns, with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, where people live but work little, the situation looks more complex.

Customers no longer have time to stop after their day's work.

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Despite everything, a general threat looms: the prospect of a third confinement, not ruled out by the government which meets Wednesday for a health defense council.