Commerce starts the year worse than expected, after a close in 2021 in which sales have been weighed down by the impact of the omicron variant, and with timid expectations for January.

It is

when the sales period officially begins,

and precisely when the price increases that until now had been contained in some cases are expected to become widespread so as not to weigh down Christmas consumption.

This discount period that starts on Friday will therefore be weaker. As Carlos Moreno Figueroa, from the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC) illustrates, "the sales will be less sales." "Stores that have not done well, especially in the more seasonal sectors, such as fashion,

will do everything possible to remove unsold stock, with discounts

. But the rest will have to adjust the rise in costs and transfer it to the product to cushion this constant drop in the margin, "he laments.

In his opinion, «

this January there will be a general rise in prices,

as many manufacturers have already had an impact on the rising cost of raw materials (aluminum, steel, plastic, glass, electronics ...) and the majority of distributors will in turn have to pass on this cost increase ”.

Sales

are the way for businesses to get rid of what they have not sold, but by cutting their margin.

For businesses that have fallen in sales and suffered an increase in costs is an almost certain loss.

A "catastrophic" year

The sales

officially begin after the Three Kings Day,

although since in 2012 businesses were allowed to choose when to make their offers, there are many that come before December and link almost to Black Friday, the other most popular discount period. among consumers.

Last year, the campaign coincided with Filomena,

who hurt sales.

Textiles, the sector most affected by the pandemic, closed the period with falls of 53%.

"Taking into account that collapse, now exceeding the figures from last year's sales campaign is easy, but that does not mean that they will be good," said Eduardo Zamácola, president of Acotex, the employer's association for the textile sector.

In the autumn, the activity of the sector began to rise and register increases, but the impact of omicron in the final stretch of 2021 has been strong and “the last two weeks of December, which we thought were going to be good, have been catastrophic.

Sales have fallen dramatically and now the sales campaign will depend on omicron, although it will not save the year, "says Zamácola, who insists that" people are not buying, but costs continue to rise. "

In 2020

the sector closed with drops of 40% in turnover

compared to 2019 and this 2021 it will do so with a 15% decrease over last year's figures.

Euromonitor foresees for this 2022 an increase of 5%.

At a general level, including the rest of the sectors, the CEC had calculated to close 2021 15% below what was billed before the crisis, but now they raise the figure to 25%.

Prices

Zamácola recalls that due to the fall in the influx of people in the stores for fear of being infected, it is added that dinners and events have been canceled and in the face of the sales there are many shops «that are having difficulties to raise the blind because there were many workers low, infected ».

Although

the most dissuasive effect for the pocket will be inflation,

which closed 2021 near 7%, the highest level in 29 years.

"The economic hangover that this situation will have in households and in spending is yet to be seen," says Moreno-Figueroa.

"The sector is in a very critical situation, because to the drop in income, we must add the increase in costs due to the increase in the minimum wage, plus taxes, logistics costs and raw materials," says Zamácola.

Moreno-Figueroa highlights the increase of about 15% in the case of household appliances, since all the increases mentioned are joined by the guarantee law, which adds more pressure to costs for manufacturers.

Spain lags behind the EU in recovering trade sales.

While in France or Germany they already grow up to 5% above the 2019 levels, in Spain they are still 4% below, according to Euromonitor data.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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  • Black friday

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