No sales in July this year. They were postponed to August 1. However, customers may be able to find good deals this Wednesday, July 1. Combined sales are indeed authorized, for example a third item offered for the purchase of two. 4 out of 10 traders will practice this type of sale, according to the UCM.
The UCM, Union des Classes Moyennes, interviewed several hundred traders to find out their state of mind after the Covid-19 health crisis. Traditionally, July 1 should have marked the start of sales. Traders should have cut prices to empty stocks and make room for new collections. The confinement and closure of businesses until May changed the situation. To give businesses a chance to sell again by achieving sufficient margins, the sales have been postponed for one month, until August 1st.
Coupled sales pending sales
By August 1, the law requires that sales be preceded by a one-month waiting period, during which merchants are prohibited from announcing or suggesting discounts.
However, coupled sales is authorized, according to European legislation, one way, despite everything, to offer discounts to customers. ” You cannot post discounts or make sales below cost. We can make joint offers. For example, we buy two things and we receive a free product or we buy two things and we have a reduction on both products. It is a transitional period where one cannot display ‘sales’, one cannot display ‘sale at a loss’ or ‘reduction’. This must be ‘joint coupled sale’. It’s a first step towards sales “, explains Sophie Heuskin, advisor to the Studies and Lobbying service of the UCM.
►►► Also read: Coronavirus: up to 70% loss of turnover in non-food businesses
Some chain stores also go so far as to offer “vouchers” at 1 euro, which “coupled” with another article, entitle you for a single additional euro to generous discounts on your article.
Bringing money back to the merchants’ coffers
These combined sales should, even more this year than the previous ones, help revitalize the activity of traders, in addition to the sales. “This is complementary because the inventory period, since we can sell at a loss, allows us to liquidate the stocks. While here, the waiting period is more a start-up period before the sales. ”
“Clearly, after the period we have known with the Covid, it will allow us to revive a little, to resell by not cutting prices too much and for traders, to find a little cash “explains Sophie Heuksin. The traders represented by the UCM would even have liked to be able to start these joint sales as soon as the stores reopened in May, however this was not granted.
Relaunch “Fun Shopping”
The hope for merchants is that summer will encourage customers to return to the stores. Admittedly, the government has so far advised to go to stores only when necessary. However, on the merchant side, a return to more “fun shopping” is desired: “There will be fewer trips abroad or perhaps less far or less long. There will be more tourism in Belgium which will make it possible to go to the Coast or to the Ardennes and to do shopping there. Slowly, we hope, we will return to more fun shopping “, continues Sophie Heuskin, of the UCM.
To welcome customers, more than 80% of traders declare having taken adequate sanitary measures such as posting, making masks available or wearing it within the store (46%). More than 9 out of 10 freelancers have put gel at the disposal of the customers, specifies the UCM, in a press release.
Lower attendance
According to the UCM survey, 4 out of 10 traders have announced their intention to practice coupled sales. With this one month period before sales, merchants hope to bring customers back to the stores. The situation in shops remains worrying indeed. Eight out of 10 traders believe that attendance is still lower than before covid19.
Customer feedback and above all sufficient sales will be essential. According to the UCM, the finances of independent traders are fragile. More than 7 out of 10 freelancers will use gateway law, which has been set up exceptionally to support activities experiencing a loss of turnover of at least 10%. Four out of ten freelancers also believe they need cash up to € 10,000.
In addition, traders remain cautious before the next season. Only 39% of them kept orders with their suppliers, 26% postponed, 18% canceled them and 17% preferred to stagger. So many signs of concern in the trade sector.
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