Quite a symbol.
The government will have waited until the day of Black Friday, these vast online promotions hated by small traders, to announce its decision: the winter sales, initially scheduled for January 6, 2021, will not begin until Wednesday, January 20, as the for several weeks vehemently demanded the associations of traders.
"I think that today it is useful to postpone", decided this Friday morning the Minister for SMEs Alain Griset on Sud Radio.
In the process, his cabinet specified that the duration of the sales would be four weeks.
[#SudRadio] #GrandMatinSudRadio 🗣️ @alaingriset: "Today I think it is useful to postpone the sales beyond January 6th and therefore #sales will start on January 20th."
pic.twitter.com/JA3lqzWNnE
- Sud Radio (@SudRadio) December 4, 2020
The representatives of small traders did not fail to rejoice.
"Thanks to this decision, we will be able to sell our articles for a few more weeks at a normal price, with margins therefore, it is essential for us", argues the general delegate of the Confederation of traders of France (CCF), Bénédicte Boudet-Corric.
Footwear, lingerie, clothing stores ... After a first confinement of seven weeks in the spring, all so-called "non-essential" shops had to face a new administrative closure from October 30 to November 7.
Period during which, for the lucky ones who put in click and collect, the turnover barely reached 10% of a normal month.
This is why the CCF, allied with the artisan traders of the metropolitan areas of France (CAMF), had publicly requested the postponement of the sales.
As much as Black Friday is a private commercial operation, for which the government had to persuade the major players (Amazon, FnacDarty, Boulanger, etc.) to postpone it for a week, the government has had control over the sales: since then Pacte law of May 2019, the balances, as well as their duration, are fixed by decree by the Minister of the Economy.
A review of the sales
This announcement is the epilogue of a long standoff between the "little ones" and the "big ones".
On the one hand, independent traders need to "make money" without breaking prices too early in January.
On the other hand, the big brands, whose difference between purchase price and resale price is much higher, which can therefore sell products on sale while making a margin, wanted to maintain the date of January 6.
"If the month of December goes like last year, the urgency in January will be to destock," warns Emmanuel le Roch, the general delegate of Procos (which represents 300 brands and 650,000 employees).
"It is necessary to pay our suppliers and buy back the new collections", confirms Johann Petiot, general manager of Alliance du Commerce (450 brands and 27,000 points of sale) ".
READ ALSO>
Opening of restaurants, resumption of lessons… But why did you choose January 20?
Beyond this one-off decision, a larger debate, or even a global review, should be launched on the sales in the coming weeks.
“We debated the summer sales, postponed with mixed success, then the winter sales, which have also just been postponed ... We can no longer discuss this subject twice a year and decide just one month before the start!
It's impossible to work in such uncertainty, ”criticizes Yohann Petiot.
Especially since whatever the date chosen, with the multiplication of promotions over the year, all the experts share the same observation: the sales are less successful than before.