Neither the end of the restrictions nor the vaccines save the sales: July closes with fewer sales than in 2020

Hard blow for the fashion sector in Spain. The lifting of restrictions and the advancement of the vaccination campaign augured a satisfactory sales campaign summer to give oxygen to a sector heavily hit by the pandemic. But the truth is that these claims have remained an illusion: sales have been lower than those of July 2020, when the country was in full crisis of the Covid-19.

Eduardo Zamacola, president of the Business Association of Textile, Accessories and Leather Trade (Acotex) affirms that the preliminary data of sale sales in the month of July show a negative scenario. Although in the month of June, the fashion establishments seemed to see the light at the end of the tunnel with an increase of 0.3% in sales, the month of July returned them to a disastrous reality. The drop in sales compared to the same month of 2020, both in the physical store and in the online channel, has a much worse reading for the sector, since in 2020 the level of sales was one of the lowest of the decade .

Traditionally, sales purchases -both in the summer and winter seasons- are characterized as impulse consumption and not out of necessity. But nevertheless, the fifth wave of coronavirus, which has coincided with the sales campaign during the month of July, added to the rebound that the pandemic is having in young people – one of the profiles that makes the most purchases during this period – has made many consumers reverse their intention to purchase on sale despite the significant discounts launched by brands due to the large amount of accumulated stock.

One stock, which after registering a drop in sales of 53% in January, 41% in February, 38% in March and 30% in April, does not stop accumulating in the establishments, which hoped to give it out during the summer discount season and that complicates the winter season even more, reducing the margin available to stores fashionable to meet the payments they have to make.

“These sales results from the sale campaign can have a direct effect on merchants, who have been running in the red. A bad season can make many of these establishments rethink their continuity as of September»Pointed out Zamacola.