The annual winter sales get under way tomorrow (Tuesday 3 January). A survey of clothing retailers by the clothing federation Mode Unie , the federation of independent fashion retailers and the small business federations Unizo and NSZ has found that the sales will start off with price reductions averaging 30%. This is in line with the level of price cuts offered at the start of the winter sales in previous years.
A survey carried out by independent retailers’ federation NSZ found that 80% of retailers will start of the sales with price reductions of 30%. 20% of retailers said that they will be offering 50% price cuts from the start of the sales. NSZ says that the reason that such large price reductions are being offered is because many retailers have a lot of stock that they need to clear.
The clothing federation Mode Unie says that initial price reductions will average 31%. Although sales in the run-up to Christmas and the cold spell in mid-December served to go some way making up for what had been a poor start to the winter season, independent clothing retailers don’t have any great expectations for the winter sales. 65% believe that they will be as good or better than last year when they were “moderately satisfied” with what they had managed to sell during the winter sales. Around 35% expect sales to be down on last January.
The retailers surveyed by NSZ were more pessimistic. 20% said that they expect turnover to be down by a fifth compared with last year. The energy crisis is cited as the reason for this. 90% of retailers say that they have noticed that customers are visiting their stores less frequently. Furthermore, the increased popularity of online purchases is also having an impact. The winter sales run from Tuesday 3 January until Tuesday 31 January.
