Top start for shopping this Wednesday 8 pm! This year, the four weeks of promotions will take place from Wednesday June 22 to Tuesday July 19, 2022 in mainland France, with the exception of the Alpes-Maritimes and Corsica. According to a survey published in early June by Channable, faced with inflation due in particular to the war in Ukraine, 51% of French people say they are ready to take advantage of the summer sales more than usual.
And there will be a novelty this year to protect consumers from fancy promotions with overpriced discounts. Indeed since May 28, 2022, traders have been forced to display on the labels the lowest price practiced during the thirty days preceding this offer. The website of the consumer association Que Choisir specifies that “if the merchant wants to sell 90 euros for a product that he has sold between 100 and 130 euros in the thirty days preceding the promotion, the price crossed out must be 100 euros The reduction displayed will therefore be 10%”, and more than 30% savings as was the case before. Note that this new regulation applies to all promotions, in physical stores and online, and not just during sales.
Launch of the summer sales in an exciting context. Initially scheduled for four weeks from Wednesday June 23 to Tuesday July 20, the Minister of the Economy announced that the summer sales would finally start a week later, on Wednesday June 30. They will last until Tuesday, July 27 inclusive.
Like the winter sales, the summer sales were also disrupted by the health context. “We talked a lot with the representatives of the merchants, with the big brands. I know that a lot of small businesses say that the sales should be delayed. What I see is that last year we had pushed them back to mid-July, the result had not been convincing”, assured Bruno Le Maire at the microphone of France Inter Thursday, May 27. “I think it is wiser, given the current resurgence of consumption, not to shift the date of the sales too much,” added the Minister of the Economy.
As a reminder, last year in 2020, the summer sales had been postponed to July 15 to take into account the situation of small traders who had been strongly impacted by the confinement and the closure of non-essential businesses. This was also the case for the winter sales, which were postponed for fifteen days.
This year, after many months of health restrictions, the recovery seems, unlike last summer when stores were shunned, dynamic. Consumers this time “want to have fun”.
“We are not at all in the same health context as last year, there is less concern”, in particular thanks to vaccination, explained to Ouest France Yohann Petiot, director general of the Alliance du commerce, representing clothing, footwear and downtown businesses.
The Alliance saw “a nice reopening” in May, with sales up 41% between May 19 and June 12 compared to the last “normal” year, in 2019, according to a panel of one forty brands representative of the clothing market created with Retail Int.
Please note that the dates of the summer sales are different in several departments. They will take place from Wednesday July 7 to Tuesday August 3, 2021 in:
These French departments benefit from derogations due to their neighboring geographical location.
Regarding the overseas departments, they have already taken place in Guadeloupe from the first Saturday in January and in Reunion from the first Saturday in February. They are set for the first Thursday in October for Martinique. For overseas communities, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon organizes its summer sales from the first Wednesday following July 14 (i.e. from July 21 at 8 a.m. to Tuesday August 17), details the website of the Ministry of l ‘Economy. It’s the second Saturday in October for Saint-Barthélémy and Saint-Martin.
How to do good business?
Last summer, 62% of French people said in a Yougov poll that it is important to consume during the sales to revive the economy of France. They have saved a lot during the successive confinements. So we can see a phenomenon of “revenge shopping”. However, only 34% were looking forward to this last July. After more than a year of health crisis and several successive confinements, the French could this time have a compulsive desire to consume. And this, even if the budget crumbles.
According to panelist Kantar, from an average of €215 in 2016, the amount devoted to it has plummeted to €153 in 2020, a drop of 41%. However, “the budget allocated to promotions is growing” slightly, from 251 to 262 €.
Know that if you want to avoid the rush in the midst of a health crisis, the online sales have not benefited from any privileges and also start on Wednesday June 30 at 8 a.m. However, some sites have allowed baskets to be reserved in advance, the day before. It’s a good way to find good deals and do some scouting in advance. This also applies in store where some were able to quietly spot the item of their dream before the crowd.
To prepare for multiple fittings, choose a simple outfit with no unlikely layering. Better to favor leggings or shorts that you won’t have to take off to put on a dress or pants. Considering the many kilometers that you will do in the shelves and from one store to another, also favor flat shoes for optimal comfort.
Here are some tips for outsmarting scams.
The DGCCRF (Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consumption et de la Répression des Frauds) reminds us of this every year: the sales period is conducive to the multiplication of scams that are often difficult to detect.
The announcement of a discount does not necessarily mean that the purchase is worth it: unscrupulous merchants raise their prices just before the sales to offer apparently greater reductions. To avoid or report false discounts, it is best to prepare your purchases before the sales by tracking down, and without hesitating to take screenshots to keep track of the offers consulted.
It is also necessary to be attentive to incidental costs which could increase the overall price and make the purchase less interesting: costs of preparing the package, delivery costs, administrative costs… So be careful.
