Shoppers enticed by 70% discounts
The winter sales start today in shops and online, with retailers hoping big discounts will pay off
SHOPPERS will be enticed with discounts of up to 70% from today, as the winter sales officially kick off.
The fashion industry in particular is hoping this year's winter sale will give the boost it needs to ride out the economic crisis.
Big stores such as Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette expect to make up to a quarter of their annual turnover over the next five weeks, until the official end on February 9.
Crowds gathered outside the major department stores on Paris's Boulevard Haussmann this morning for the official launch of the soldes at 8.00.
Printemps director Pierre Pelarrey told TF1 News he was expecting "very high attendance", with up to 140,000 customers coming through the doors each day.
Galeries Lafayette sales director Christophe Cann said: "The weather will help. I think the essential items will disappear in the first few days: coats, jumpers, big items in general."
Some 16 million people in France are expected to turn to the internet for their winter sales shopping, according to e-commerce federation Fevad.
The Fevad survey of 990 people found the average consumer will spend €168 online over the next five weeks.
Some online retailers are promising discounts of up to 90%.
The soldes are heavily regulated in France, with official start and end dates set by the government.
Until last year, they were only allowed to take place twice a year, in winter and summer. However the government has now relaxed the regulations slightly, giving shops the freedom to choose two additional weeks in the year, called soldes flottantes (floating sales).
Four departments in the east of France - the Vosges, Moselle, Meuse and Meurthe-et-Moselle - received a special dispensation to start the winter sales period early on January 2 to compete with nearby Luxembourg and Belgium.
The soldes are the only time of the year that shops are legally allowed to sell merchandise at a loss. Retailers can run promotions at other times of the year - but the primary aim of the sales is to get rid of old stock.
