Since the outbreak of the war, there has been a significant decline in trade revenues, and many companies in the economy have announced that employees will be placed on unpaid leave as a way to deal with the situation. The fashion chain H&M, which has 1,100 employees in total, announced Monday that it is putting about 30% of its employees on unpaid leave.
Ruti Brodo in the campaign to cancel unpaid leave (archive) // Credit: Filma Productions
"The safety and well-being of our employees is our top priority. We act responsibly and review the situation daily. All our stores are open, but unfortunately, the current situation does not allow us to provide work for all employees. Therefore, about 30% of employees have been temporarily placed on unpaid leave. We all hope that soon we will be able to return to safe and prosperous days," the chain said.
Fox announced unpaid leave of up to 50 percent of employees, Castro Hudis announced up to 40 percent, and Hamashbir Lazarchan also announced up to 40 percent of employees. According to Shva data from today, the trend of recovery in the Israeli public's credit card spending continues in week 4 of the "Iron Swords" war, when the public's expenditures were only 12.4% lower than the volume of expenditures in an average week during 2023.
Harel Wiesel, CEO of the Fox Group, placed up to 50% of the company's employees on unpaid leave, Photo: Yehuda Ben Yattach
However, the fashion industry is experiencing a decline, both due to the closure of stores at first, and due to the national mood. If we look at the clothing and footwear sector, in an average week since the beginning of 2023, revenue in this sector was NIS 575.75 million. In the first week of the war there was a decline of 63.9 percent in income, in the second week a decline of 39.5 percent in revenue, in the third week a decline of 33.1 percent in revenue, and in the fourth week there was a decline of 28.2 percent in revenue.
According to Tali Hollenberg, Shva's VP of Marketing, Business Development and Sales, "We continue to see a recovery in business activity in the economy and an increase in Israelis' credit card spending against the background of the expansion of the war routine and the return to activity under conditions of the education system and the labor market."
Azrieli Mall empty during the "Iron Swords" war, photo: Gideon Markowitz
"Spending in the main consumer sectors of the economy continued to grow into week 4 of the war. For example, the restaurants, fast food and coffee shops, and the electricity and electronics sector are only 28% lower than the expenditure figures since the beginning of the year."
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