This is a new negative assessment for mid-range ready-to-wear in France. While the 2024 winter sales ended on Tuesday January 6 in the majority of French departments, the provisional data for this period of in-store promotions do not rejoice among retailers in the sector.
According to the Retail Int. panel. for the Commerce Alliance, which represents more than 10,000 French stores of 67 textile and footwear brands (including Pimkie, Jules, Kiabi or Promod), their turnover during the first three weeks of the 2024 sales fell by 6 % compared to the same period in 2023.
The independent brands of the National Clothing Federation (FNH) also observed a similar decline, but this time over the first two weeks of the sales. Worse: the Union of Independents and Small Businesses (SDI) reports a turnover down 15 to 30% during the first half of the 2024 sales.
A trend that affects women’s, men’s and children’s fashion, the president of the FNH, Pierre Talamon, told AFP. This bad news is in fact part of a broader crisis for these mid-range brands in France: since 2018, retailers have observed a drop of “1 to 2% in turnover each year”, recalls Pierre Talamon.
The cause, according to him: sales which have “lost their meaning” and have become “out of fashion”, particularly in the face of promotions offered all year round by e-commerce sites. Lower prices which attract consumers, in a context of inflation. “This year, there is clearly a problem with purchasing power,” judges the general delegate of the SDI, Jean-Guilhem Darré, who also cites the farmers’ protest movement as a possible factor in the drop in sales at the start of this year. ‘year.