Paris (AFP)
"One more chance to sell stocks": the sales will be extended by two weeks, the government announced on Friday, good news for many traders, especially in clothing, who see their sales penalized by the curfew at 6:00 p.m.
The ministry responsible for SMEs told AFP on Friday that the winter sales would be extended until March 2, in order to "compensate for the backlash from the 6 p.m. curfew by allowing customers to spread out their purchases".
The sales had started later than expected, January 20 instead of 6, to allow businesses to sell a few additional weeks without promotion and try to replenish the cash flow exhausted by the reconfinement.
But the first assessment "is not very good, turnover is down 20%, attendance is -35%", told AFP Yohann Petiot, director general of the Alliance du commerce , after the announcement of Bercy.
"Some of our brands, including clothing, shoes and department stores, were asking for this possibility of extending the sales by two weeks to sell their stocks," he explained.
This extension "is not an obligation" for traders, who are free to continue or not the sales after February 16, the initial date of the end of the event, he wishes to specify to AFP.
"People were already coming to the store less since the health crisis, but what dealt a more difficult blow was the curfew at 6:00 p.m., teleworking and the closure of shopping centers" of more than 20,000 m2 announced by the government on January 29, underlines again the director general of the Alliance of commerce.
The two additional weeks are "one more chance to sell stocks, especially since it comes when we have winter weather", with consumers therefore still needing to buy warm clothes.
- First assessment "rather bad" -
"It is clear that the results" of the first weeks of sales "are bad enough for clothing. The French buy quite a few, they have few opportunities to go out with the curfew", adds Jacques Creyssel, president of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution FCD, which brings together most of the retail chains.
"If we take into account the curfew, teleworking, this ultimately represents two to three hours less activity for traders, even if they have organized themselves to open earlier in the morning or to stay open between noon and 2pm ", insists Francis Palombi, president of the Confederation of French traders, representing the independents.
He also stresses that the virus and its mutations weigh on the "state of mind" of the French, reluctant to go to stores, even if "it is excellent news that the government is almost no longer considering a new confinement 100%".
The Syndicat des Indépendants (SDI), present in very small businesses, for its part denounced an extension which will probably have little effect for local shops "in a context where the winter sales are already catastrophic this year, "in a statement.
"If consumers have not bought during the previous weeks, they will probably not do so more if we extend the sales! With the shops closing at 6:00 p.m., extending the sales period will be ineffective if not to continue selling little and at low prices with margins which, as we recall, have fallen by almost 29% and strongly penalize the profitability of local businesses, ”according to SDI.
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