«The climate has changed, scientists say it and we all live it, citizens and businesses, in our daily experience. It applies to Europe and the world and the time has come to acknowledge that the solar calendar can no longer be aligned with the commercial one»: Gianluigi Cimmino, CEO of Yamamay and Carpisa launches an appeal to the Government and the regions so that the beginning summer sales postponed by a couple of weeks or “at least ten days”.
Together with other protagonists of the big fashion chains and in particular with Stefano Beraldo, CEO of Ovs, and with Confimprese and Federdistribuzione, Cimmino proposes that the 2023 sales calendars – and in perspective those of the winter sales – be rethought. «It was done in 2021, to help the sector recover from the lockdowns linked to Covid: after months of closures, the central and regional institutions had understood that it was not possible to restart from discounted sales, which by definition contract margins», he adds Cimino. In 2022, still with regard to extreme events, in May in many regions the temperatures had reached 40 degrees and – admits the CEO of Yamamay and Carpisa – «they had forgotten the problem of calendars». But the autumn temperatures of this May have made the theme topical again: «We don’t want to chase the weather year after year, but find shared and common sense solutions – explains Cimmino -. The same reasoning has been valid for several years for winter: the sales should be moved to at least mid-January, because winter clothing starts to be sold in November».
The rebound of 2022 and the first months of 2023 has led companies such as Yamamay-Carpisa, Ovs and many others, for example Rinascente, to invest in new projects and initiatives and hire or train many people, mostly young people: «These are moves that they can do when the margins allow it – concludes Cimmino -. We don’t want to defend positional rents, but have a medium and long-term vision. I would add that this year, compared to the crisis linked to Covid, we have to face inflation and, for a few days now, other dramatic emergencies in some regions: just our group, to give an idea, will keep 35 shops in the region closed these days. ‘Emilia Romagna”. The appeal of Cimmino and Beraldo, moving to a sector adjacent to fashion, was joined by Fabio Pampani, president and CEO of Southern Europe of the Douglas perfume chain, which has 370 stores in Italy and which traditionally participates in the sales.