The winter sales, weighed down in particular by concerns about the spread of Covid-19, got off to a very bad start, down nearly 30% compared to the pre-pandemic period in its first five days, according to figures. Trade Alliance bounds on Tuesday.
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The Trade Alliance (department stores, clothing, footwear), which co-produces a panel of around forty brands representative of the clothing market with Retail Int., communicated on Tuesday on a turnover down 29 % on the first five days of sales (including the first weekend of sales) compared to the first five days of the period in 2019. In terms of in-store traffic, the drop is even greater, with a decrease in footfall of 35 % compared to the first five days of the 2019 sales.
Yohann Petiot, managing director of the Trade Alliance, lamented "
sales off to an extremely bad start, which is impacting businesses as it is a critical month to rebuild cash
."
Professionals generally agree that it is during the first weekend, then during the first 10 or 15 days of sales, that a large part of the sales is made.
In addition, in-store clothing sales in 2021 logically remained far from their 2019 levels (at -16%).
However, they did better than in 2020 (+9%) and, taking into account only the stores that remained open over the whole period, sales show a slight increase of 1% between 2019 and 2021.
The Alliance of Trade and Retail Int.
finally observed that the changes in consumption habits induced by the Covid-19 epidemic (decline in footfall, dynamism of local shops and outlying shopping areas, etc.) were confirmed in 2021.
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However, pre-pandemic habits managed to regain ground in the second half of 2021 (more window shopping and impulse purchases, including in major commercial sites) when the health context eased, estimate the two entities.
