Winter sales 2024 underway. End-of-season sales begin between today, Wednesday 3 January, in Valle d'Aosta and Friday 5 January in the rest of Italy. According to a survey conducted by Ipsos for Confesercenti, supplemented by a survey conducted on SMEs associated with Fismo, the association of Confesercenti fashion stores, four out of ten consumers have already planned to buy on sale, with an expected average budget of 267 euros, and there is a further 56% who will purchase in the event of an interesting offer and who therefore have not budgeted for the expense.
But climate change complicates the game for traders: the exceptionally mild temperatures recorded between October and December have almost halved (-46%) purchases of autumn-winter collections, and shops arrive at the sales without practically ever having had the opportunity to sell them at full price.
THOSE WHO BUY – 40% have already identified what to buy, and plan to buy by Sunday 7 January, with an expected average budget of 267 euros per person, even if 38% plan to spend less than 150 euros. A polarization confirmed by the fact that the absolute majority of consumers – 56% – will only buy when faced with a convincing offer. A growing share compared to previous years, a sign of greater attention on the part of families: the long wave of inflation still weighs on budgets, and purchases on sale become less impulsive and more reasoned.
WHAT YOU BUY – Those intending to buy are mainly looking for footwear – 58% of the indications – closely followed by sweaters and sweatshirts (56%). The ranking of Italians' desires for the 2024 winter sales continues with underwear (34%), skirts and/or trousers (33%), T-shirts, tank tops and tops (29%), shirts and blouses (27%). The indications for outerwear are below average (21%, last year they were 27%). 19% will look for a bag, while 17% will look for a dress/suit; 15% will instead focus on household linen, 13% on scarves, hats and other accessories. 12% of consumers report interest in purchasing belts and 10% for small leather goods, wallets and card holders.
WHERE TO BUY – During sales, physical stores firmly maintain consumer preference: 83% choose them, compared to 51% who plan to buy online.
SALES ALMOST HALVED, WEIGHT HOT – 85.5% of medium and small businesses in the fashion trade will participate in the end-of-season sales, even if 92.1% believe that the start date, just a handful of days later the 'astronomical' start of winter on December 21st is too early. The temperatures, milder than normal, have in fact affected the sales of 96% of companies with an average drop of -46% in the autumn winter collections. “We need to review the rules governing end-of-season sales”, comments Beniamino Campobasso, national president of Fismo Confesercenti. “The sales start excessively early compared to the end of the season, whereas, if they took place in the right period, they would represent an opportunity of great economic interest, both for commercial operators and for consumers”, he observes, urging “to postpone the start of the discounts to a date closer to the true end of the season”.
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