Inflation, bankruptcies and online competition: the summer sales open on Wednesday in a gloomy context for trade, which hopes to take advantage of this meeting to end the season on a positive note. “We have to pass the sales period”, which lasts until July 25, “especially since the start of the season has not been good”, explains to AFP Yohann Petiot, general manager of Alliance du Commerce, which brings together department stores and clothing brands.
In question, the difficulties accumulated by the sector, with inflation as the main stumbling block, which has diverted consumers from this item of expenditure. “There will be more attractive prices, we hope that this will help to revive consumption a little, which is very low in our sector”, adds Petiot, who invites the French to be seduced by good deals.
But despite the hopes of professionals, the sales, this great meeting of consumption, no longer necessarily create the event, dreads Gildas Minvielle, director of the economic observatory of the French Institute of Fashion (IFM). “We are in a delicate context and consumers are used to low prices,” he notes. “The sales in a context like today’s practically take second place. »
According to an Ifop survey, carried out at the request of the online fashion sales site Spartoo, 27% of French people say they will give up sales in 2023. And 29% say they are planning a lower budget compared to the previous years.
Series of bankruptcies
Inflation and rising costs – of raw materials and energy – are just two of a long list of problems traders have been grappling with for three years. The consequences of Covid-19, competition from online sales and the boom in the second-hand market have weakened companies in difficulty, particularly in ready-to-wear and footwear.
The brutal liquidation of Camaïeu in September 2022, resulting in the layoff of 2,100 employees, shook the fashion world and marked the start of a succession of liquidations and legal reorganizations in the mid-range of ready-to-wear, frozen a time by business aid at the time of the Covid. Since then, San Marina, Kookaï, Burton of London, Gap France, André, Kaporal have been placed in receivership or liquidated.
Last victim to date, Don’t Call Me Jennyfer (formerly Jennyfer until May 2019) who in turn requested his placement in receivership in mid-June. “I don’t have the impression that the sales are going to start in a very good atmosphere, I’m not sure it’s a very good vintage”, predicts Gildas Minvielle.