PARIS STORES LIKE NEW CLEARANCE SALE LAWS
Byline: Jennifer Weil
PARIS — The first clearance sales under strict controls put in place last year by the French government took place this winter, and the stores here haven’t been complaining.
Last July, the government changed laws concerning sales to try to boost the lagging French economy. The biggest change had to do with the dates. Although sales still take place twice yearly — in winter and summer — they must now happen during a specified six-week stretch instead of an unspecified eight-week one. And the sales must be given the go-ahead by the state. Before, municipal permission for individual sales dates was sufficient.
For this session, clearances began in Paris on Jan. 3 and in the rest of France on Jan. 2. They ended this past weekend. In past years, sales usually began the day after Christmas.
“The new sale dates really helped augment stores’ turnover during the winter sale session,” said an analyst at the Economic Observation Center, part of the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The set dates enabled shoppers to better home in on sales periods, she said.
“The freezing temperatures in France during the month of January also took shoppers by storm. The French aren’t accustomed to below-zero [centigrade] temperatures. So shoppers flocked to the stores to stock up on warm clothing,” she added.
Galeries Lafayette, for one, will see an estimated 5 percent increase in sales over the 1995 winter sale period, according to a spokeswoman for the big Right Bank department store.
“Our sales this session went well,” said Bruno Villeneuve, managing general director at the Left Bank department store Le Bon MarchA. “The first day of sales saw a huge turnover. And because of the new sale dates and the cold weather, Bon Marche will see about a 10 percent increase in sales compared to last year.”
Junior apparel manufacturer and retailer Kookao is seeing a 20 percent increase in store sales over the 1995 winter period, a spokeswoman said, adding that the new dates added clarity to shoppers’ schedules. And Agnes B reported a strong increase in sales of sweaters and coats this January.
Yet some believe the sales period can be made even stronger. “The new dates for sales are good but not entirely sufficient,” said Gerard Roudine, general commissioner of the Federation du Pret-a-Porter Feminin here. “In my opinion, the winter sales should begin later, some time after Jan. 15, and last for four weeks rather than six.” A briefer period would shorten the time lower-priced products would be in circulation, he said.
The July law also specifies that products can only be marked down if they have been in the store for at least 30 days before the start of the sale. This is meant to keep stores from bringing in lower-quality, lower-priced merchandise expressly for sales.
Promotions on items can still be featured throughout the course of the year, as long as they are not aimed at draining stock. In a promotion, the retailer is not allowed to operate below cost, the law further specifies.