Curtain for the 2020 summer sales. In this particular year, marked by the global coronavirus pandemic, the objective was multiple for traders: it was necessary to replenish cash flow, revive consumption and sell off stocks. Balance after four weeks? Mixed, recognize the traders.
"This is what we expected, that is to say not a very grand cru", summarizes for AFP Christian Baulme, president of the Ronde des Quartiers, which brings together some 1,300 businesses in Bordeaux. One nuance, however: "it has been a long time since there has been any grand cru in the sales". Drowned between private sales, criticism of “fast fashion” and the overall trend towards less consumption, sales are less and less successful. But in this year of the Covid-19 pandemic and after several months of activity at half mast, traders still saw an opportunity to bounce back.
Between “catastrophic” season and “encouraging” sales
Result? "The results are rather nuanced," said Minister Delegate for SMEs Alain Griset, on RTL. According to him, in Paris more particularly "things, for the moment measured as they are, not very favorable". But, "there is generally among the self-employed an activity which has been maintained well", he assured, without giving precise figures.
A premium ready-to-wear retailer in the Parisian district of Les Halles draws up an “encouraging” assessment of the sales in her brand, her customers having ignored the “restrictive” sanitary measures to afford a few items that some of between them “cannot be bought outside of sales”. But not far away, another shopkeeper rolls his eyes, sighing in his mask: “La cata! Look how deserted Paris is, everyone has gone on vacation… ”
Usually it can count on foreign tourists, few in number this summer. And the sales normally start in June, when the government decided after the confinement to postpone the date of the 2020 edition to allow traders to replenish their cash a little with full prices.
Sales at half mast in the capital
The measure did not really benefit Parisian traders. According to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the capital, three quarters of the 400 Parisian traders it surveyed on the subject at the end of July deemed it disappointing. This is not what Christian Baulme, of the Ronde des Quartiers thinks: “sales are back to their original definition, which is to sell stocks, and they have enabled us to do so. So the “sales effect” worked, then it ran out of steam ”.
Observation shared by the head of the Confederation of Merchants of France (CDF) Francis Palombi. In his eyes, given the unprecedented context, "the sales, whatever the date, could not be exceptional" in terms of sales. And independent traders "could not, after two months of closure, start again on discounts of -50%", he estimated Monday on Europe 1. He judges that the result of the sales was "on average rather less good than last year, but not necessarily systematically ”. That is, not in all regions, and not on all types of articles.
Are western traders better off?
Emmanuel Le Roch, director general of the specialized trade federation Procos, believes, for example, that the large agglomerations, where international tourists often stay, should have fared less well than certain regions, particularly in the West, where they are massed many French tourists this summer.
Certain sectors are also doing a little better, in particular “home equipment and sports,” notes Emmanuel Le Roch. In addition, dynamic online shops are doing better, but Procos qualifies: "the dynamics of Internet sales only make up for a small part of the losses in store activity".
All eyes are now on the start of the school year and the government's stimulus plan. With inevitably a lot of uncertainties: “how are we going to be confident enough to consume more than last year at the same time? “Asks Emmanuel Le Roch. This, with "the sword of Damocles that is the virus subject" ...
Economy
Why have the French lost their taste for sales?
Paris
Attendance at half mast, sales at their lowest: In Paris, the summer sales disappointed traders
- Tradespeople
- Covid 19
- Society
- Coronavirus
- Sales
- Consumption