Bercy was finally settled : the winter sale will start on the 9th of January, as planned. The secretary of State for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, announced on Friday, stating that ” a majority of federations of traders consulted were against the advancement of the scheduled date. “Bring forward the date of the winter sale is not desired by a majority of federations of traders consulted by the government. The beginning balance is therefore maintained to 9 January, the date on which the businesses are prepared for several weeks, ” wrote the secretary of State on his Twitter account. In a second tweet, Agnès Pannier-Runacher stated that she would receive at the beginning of January the representatives of the artisans and merchants who saw their sales decline during the movement of the yellow Vests.
With Bruno Le Maire, we are listening to the artisans/merchants. Bcp have lost sales due to the motion of the yellow vests. The services of the State remain mobilized to help. I receive their representatives in early January to take stock of the situation. 2/2
— Agnès Pannier-Runacher (@AgnesRunacher) December 28, 2018
Some of the traders had asked for progress of a week to compensate for such losses related to the movement of the yellow Vests. The president of the Confederation of traders of France, Francis Palombi, had suggested to move the date of the beginning balances at January 2, instead of 9 as originally planned. “Given the extraordinary circumstances and the big loss in the independent, this would allow people to go back to the stores, and less on the Internet, and re-create the cash to spend the storm,” he pleaded with the Agence France-Presse.
Read also yellow Vests : what losses to the traders before Christmas ?
logistical challenges
multiple weekends of action of the yellow Vests have significantly affected the sales during the holiday season, which account for some merchants, up to 50 % of the annual turnover. According to the national Council of shopping centres (NBAC), the five weekends of bad sales consecutively from 17 November to 16 December – have cost 2 billion euros in the trade sector. The secretary of State for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, has itself estimated last week that the manifestations of the yellow Vests have resulted in an average decline of 25 % of the turnover in the trade.
Read also Coignard – yellow Vests : and now, the bill!!
But the advancement of balances was far from unanimous among the federations of traders, especially in the large-scale distribution. “This is a proposal impossible to implement, for practical reasons. It should be in effect by January 2, change the logistics and the transport required, redo all the posters, change the internal organization “, says Jacques Creyssel, delegate general of the Federation of commerce and distribution (FCD).
After winter sale 2018 disappointing, the government had decided to reduce their term from six to four weeks to try to revive this period of procurement competition, in particular by the growth of e-commerce, private sales of the larger retailers or the days of promotions such as Black Friday in late November.
On the same subject in Paris : an aid of one million euros for the shops affected
