Disappointing end for January sales

SHOP-OWNERS have reported disappointing results from this year's January sales, which officially ended at midnight last night.

Bad weather across France was blamed for much of the decline - however many retailers also said that year-round promotions in shops meant customers no longer saw the soldes as a special occasion.

According to the Fédération du Commerce Associé, more than three-quarters of stores saw a fall in revenue compared with January 2009. The Paris chamber of commerce and industry said half of the shop-owners it surveyed were let down by this year's performance.

Outlets in big town centres appeared to be the best performers, as the heavy snow encouraged people to shop locally and avoid the out-of-town shopping centres. Smaller town centres attracting customers from a wide rural catchment area were hit hard by the snow, which made travel conditions difficult.

Clothes shop takings from this year's sales are down between 2% and 5% on last year according to early estimates from the French Fashion Institute, IFM, which said it was hoping for the situation to pick up in March.

Independent fashion retailers' group FNH saw a 3% sales rise which it put down to late purchases of winter clothing.
Printemps and Galeries Lafayette said when the sales launched on January 6 that they were expecting a strong turnout this year. UCV, the union representing major high-street chains, said last night that the figures for January were "good" and Galeries Lafayette said visitor numbers were up 5%.

The soldes are the only time of the year that shops are legally allowed to sell merchandise at a loss. Many shops tried enticing customers with discounts of 70% or 80%.

Online retailers went as far as 90% on some products. E-commerce trade body Fevad said online revenue from the sales was up 19% on last winter, although online shopping accounts for only 5% of total sales takings in France.