Review of the winter sales: a rather gloomy period of promotions and good deals for businesses

La campagne des soldes d'hiver 2024 n'a pas permis aux commerçants de retrouver le sourire. Le bilan est en baisse. MAXPPP – Thierry Thorel

According to the panel  Retail Int. for the Alliance du Commerce, which brings together around sixty major brands, such as Monoprix, Promod, Lacoste and Minelli, turnover is down by 6% per year. compared to the previous year, over the first three weeks of the sales.

Total gloom. The winter sales, which have just ended, have not allowed the retail sector to smile again. Faced with a complicated economic situation, a consequence of the drop in household purchasing power, the promotion period did not meet expectations. The Retail Int. panel. for the Commerce Alliance has just delivered its verdict: turnover is down 6%.

"The sales period had started badly, it ended badly, says Jean-Guilhem Darré, general delegate of the Union of Independents and Small Businesses& ;nbsp;(SDI), which is observing a drop in turnover among its members of between 15% and 30%, compared to 2023. For several years, they have been less expected. In addition, "20% of members surveyed say they were impacted by the farmers' strike movement, towards the end of the sales".

Turnover has fallen by 5.6% in women's ready-to-wear since 2019

The gloom does not start today. “The general context is not good, insists François-Marie Grau, general delegate of the French Federation of Women's Ready-to-Wear. In 2022, consumption increased by 5%, but in 2023 it fell by 1.3%. Since the Covid crisis, it has fallen by 5.6%. "Since then, we still have not caught up to 2019 levels".

The reasons are known: the decline in purchasing power of the French. “The importance of constrained spending weighs heavily,” notes François-Marie Grau. But not only that: low-end ready-to-wear brands face competition from mail order sales. They must also cope with "the emergence of the second-hand market". A phenomenon that brands 'are today trying to appropriate, but with the risk of a drop in sales of their new clothes".

"It's getting more and more difficult to succeed in sales"

The success of the sales is decided at the very beginning of the campaign. "In the first 10 to 15 days, after that it no longer works", says Jean-Guilhem Darré. The "second markdown" is supposed to revitalize them. Relaunch them. "But we didn'not feel any momentum this year". "It's becoming more and more difficult to succeed in sales with all the promotions that are organized throughout the year", analyzes Christelle Fraisse, president of the merchants' association from downtown Narbonne.

It refers in particular to Black Friday, positioned just before the end of year holidays. “People wait for that moment and no longer consume,” she says. And when sales follow end-of-year holiday purchases, it is increasingly difficult to restart the consumption machine. "This year, it was very average from the first day of the sales", she adds.

Sales allow merchants to sell unsold items

Due to a lack of consumers at the end of the year, traders find themselves with significant stocks on their hands. "This year, stocks were relatively large before the start of the sales, says François-Marie Grau. Suddenly, it was difficult to continue. He nevertheless suggests “putting the sales period into perspective”. Hence the nagging question: should we continue to offer them.

The general delegate of the SDI is categorical: they must be kept. “For traders, they allow unsold stocks to be sold,” he insists. But "these also remain the two most important commercial meetings of the year. It would be a shame to break these two events, even if they have lost their force.

Don't claim victory

Faced with the fall in attractiveness of sales, merchants are trying to find a solution. Recent years have seen an increase in private sales, offered by stores to their customers. "This year, we worked well with private sales, says Martial Farago, president of the GIE which brings together some 120 traders from the Polygone shopping center, in Béziers. But then the start of the sales themselves was neutral.

"The people who rush as soon as the stores open on the first day of the sales, it's over. We no longer see him,” laments Christelle Fraisse. She tries to reassure herself by "feeling" a "small upswing in activity since the start of the year". But, above all, she does not want to declare victory.