A return to normality that made traders turn up their noses. The summer sales of 2021 return, as usual, at the beginning of July and have already started in almost all of Italy. Unlike in 2020, when after the first months of a health emergency it was decided to postpone the great sales season to the end of the month. A change that, from the sector, would have been necessary again this year. «It is still too special a year, marked by the pandemic, and summer has just begun. I will make the real summer sales at the end of July ». Why? An example: in children’s clothing there are many who admit that they have to “still sell everything”, because they have finished the nursery in these days and “They still have to leave for the holidays”.
The war of figures between Confeserenti and Codacons
Here, the holidays. The other theme of this sales campaign, with reduced departures from the coronavirus emergency and the estimated spending figures between consumer associations and retailers’ organizations that do not allow us to be too optimistic. The sentiment that emerges from the survey on end-of-summer sales conducted by Swg for Fismo, the association of fashion companies belonging to Confesercenti, on a sample of consumers residing in Italy sees a “high consumer interest: 52% declare they want to take advantage of the summer sales to make one or more purchases, while 27% will decide based on the occasion. An average cost of € 285 per family is expected, equal to € 124 per person “. Consumers who show a high level of appreciation for the event: for 48% the sales are an opportunity for consumers, while for 19% it is a beautiful tradition to be respected. Only 24% believe it is now an outdated sales method. The average budget, however, hides a strong polarization. One in three Italians will be held under 100 euros, while 20% will spend more than 200 euros. The physical retail network remains the protagonist of the sales: 46% indicate that they want to buy from branded stores or a large chain, 39% from an independent store and 29% in an outlet, while only 27% say they want to buy a also produced on the internet.
The sales started immediately with record discounts of up to -50%, but Confesercenti’s estimates regarding the per capita expenditure of citizens during the summer sales are for Codacons “excessively optimistic, and will have to deal with a different reality unfortunately” . The consumer association added, in the note: “We share the forecasts that see a growth in the number of citizens interested in sales and willing to make purchases during the discount period, a share that this year, according to our estimates, reaches 57% of Italians – explains Codacons – Sales, although positive and with an increase of between + 15% and + 20% compared to 2020, will nevertheless remain below the pre-Covid values ». The balances will be affected, in fact, by “competition from e-commerce, the decrease in the number of foreign tourists present in our country and the economic uncertainties of families generated by the health crisis”.
But what will you buy? Italians will mainly look for footwear, a purchase indicated by 63% of the sample, followed by sweaters and T-shirts (40%) and – at a great distance – by shirts and blouses (19%). This is followed by underwear (reported by 18% of respondents), swimwear and beach accessories (17%) and bags, belts, wallets and small leather goods (10%). The sladi and especially Covid, which last year sharply reduced sales during the period of seasonal discounts, are likely to have a record amount of inventory appear in stores. But for Renato Borghi, president of the Italian Fashion Federation-Confcommercio, “the expectations of average spending per family for these summer sales are growing compared to last year + 21%, but still at a loss on pre-Covid levels of at least 40% , also considering the absence of shopping tourism which alone is worth around 800 million euros with an average receipt in fashion of 861 euros. The sector – he points out – lost 35% of its working capacity during the lockdown, due to the forced closure by decree, among the very few commercial activities, of fashion stores for 138 days. We therefore hope that they will be firm in the name of positivity, given the increase in the climate of trust ».
The point of the Italian Consumer Center
«This season will disappoint a lot those who expect a recovery in expenses and consumption and for many and different reasons. Starting with the balances for which, through our North-Center-South sample, we do not foresee that above the 33% percentage can be involved with a core expenditure of about 130 Euros equal to a total of about 1.1 billion of Euro. We will have to wait a little longer to see signs of recovery, unfortunately ». Thus Rosario Trefiletti, secretary of the Italian Consumer Center. In recent months, he further notes, “due to the bankruptcy and closure of many businesses and in any case due to their crisis, many products have been sold through various promotions, and more and more these sales have occurred and are still taking place online. “.