Bad news for bargain hunters: the fashion trade is expecting a “low-season end-of-winter sale” this year. The warehouses in the textile trade have already been cleared. The inventories are noticeably below the level of previous years, reported the trade association textile shoes leather goods (BTE) on Thursday in Cologne. It can therefore be assumed “that the selection and possibly also the discounts in the sales will be smaller and not all companies will participate in the sales,” said BTE spokesman Axel Augustin.
The reasons for the already well-cleared warehouses: On the one hand, many retailers were reluctant to buy autumn/winter goods in the lockdown spring of 2021 due to the uncertain corona development. On the other hand, due to the global problems in production and transport, there were sometimes considerable failures in the delivery of goods.
“Especially in the first half of the season, quite good customer demand met a significantly lower range of goods, so that the remaining stocks in the textile and shoe trade are currently likely to be noticeably below the level of previous years,” said Augustin.
Larger retail chains start with sales
This has already been shown in the past few weeks. Discount campaigns before Christmas were rather the exception. Sale posters have only been seen on a larger scale since the beginning of January. But they are mainly found in the large retail chains. In contrast, many medium-sized retailers are currently still holding back and would probably continue to start no or hardly visible discount campaigns, BTE predicted.
Nevertheless, according to the assessment of the trade association, a shopping trip can still be worthwhile this year. Finally, the global price increases should also make themselves felt in the textile and shoe sectors by the middle of the year at the latest. The clearance sale therefore offers another opportunity to buy “at the currently favorable level”, said Augustin. (dpa)