In his men's ready-to-wear boutique, located in downtown Nancy, Sébastien Duchowicz "limited the breakage" during this sales period which ends on Tuesday.
“I am making a number equivalent to last year, which was certainly not my best year, but it is still that.
We have at least managed to liquidate quite a bit of inventory.
In his view, the two-week extension reduced the impact of the curfew.
“We also started with strong entry promotions, which attracted customers,” continues the merchant, also president of Vitrines de Nancy, which brings together nearly 350 stores.
Some of these shops have even seen a boom in activity after having recovered some of the customers of the local shopping center which had to close its doors at the end of January with the new sanitary restrictions.
“We will say that we are not doing too badly,” breathes Sébastien Duchowicz.
"The curfew causes a loss of between 15 and 20% of the turnover"
For the clothing and footwear sector, if we only take into account the stores that have remained open, "we are on + 27% in February compared to last year", confirms Yohann Petiot, general delegate of Alliance du commerce, based on a representative panel of businesses.
"This performance is mainly explained by the delay in the date of the sales which therefore began two weeks later, as well as by the postponement to stores in city centers and shopping areas open after the closure of shopping centers", details he, however, recalling that it is difficult "to compare the periods when the date and duration of the sales as well as the context are very different from last year.
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Moreover, if we take into account the figures since the beginning of the year, they are much less encouraging: "We are on a loss of turnover of around 7 to 8% on open stores" , he said.
And if we include all the shops, including those of the shopping centers which had to close (around 25,000), the general results this time are very bad: “It's - 22%, points out- he.
In other words, if a few stores have been able to do well, that does not compensate for the loss of overall activity.
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An observation shared by the Procos, the federation of specialized trade, which represents 300 brands: "We do not yet have all the figures but we suspected that it was not going to be a success," says Emmanuel Le Roch, his delegate. general.
January was very bad because of the lag.
Then, there was the closure of shopping centers from the second weekend of sales.
Without forgetting of course the curfew which makes traders lose between 15 and 20% of the turnover.
In short, the results cannot be good, in particular for the personal equipment sector and sports brands, for which this period is important to sell stocks.
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Small businesses weakened
At Eram, we can only confirm this analysis: “We have suffered a lot from the curfew and the closure of shopping centers, sighs François Aspe, co-director of the brand.
People did not have too much head to indulge themselves, or to consume.
What has worked well, especially on the web, is above all necessary purchases for children, for example.
The conversion rate was also very good, but not enough to compensate for the drop in sales.
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And even in small businesses, the general trend is hardly encouraging.
“All sectors combined, we are on an overall loss of turnover of 20 to 30%, also points out Marc Sanchez, while now worrying about the state of the troops.
Many traders find themselves with inventory on their hands, cash flow that has deteriorated further, and debt accumulating.
And it is not over: there are still big uncertainties hanging over the next few days, the coming weeks around confinement.
The situation is becoming catastrophic for some to the point of wondering if a safeguard procedure would not be the solution.
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