Fashion retailers in the Czech Republic are gradually launching their traditional summer sales. This year, some of them are hoping to sell off the stock they have accumulated in previous months due to lower demand, according to their statements. Retailers are targeting the biggest sales for July to August, when the discount rate reaches several tens of percent. From January to April, sales of clothing, footwear and leather goods were stagnant year-on-year, having fallen by almost six percent last year, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office.
Since the beginning of last year, an amendment to the Consumer Protection Act to make it harder to run fake promotions has required retailers to derive the amount of discounts from the lowest price they sold goods for 30 days before the discount. If they had the product on offer for less than 30 days, they must quote the lowest price for that period. Traders are also obliged to state the original price on the product.
From the beginning of June to mid-August this year, the sales last at the Freeport Fashion Outlet in Znojmo. “In general, the supply of goods has been very high in recent years. The interest in fashion has been rather stagnant since Covid, and retailers still have large surpluses of unsold goods and need to get rid of them,” said director Jiří Procházka. In July, he said, the level of discounts rises to 50 to 60 percent, and in the last summer month it reaches 80 percent.
“We expect that tenants will want to catch up with the weaker spring sales, as this year’s spring season was almost non-existent in this respect,” said Martin Malý, spokesman for EPG Group, which owns the Varyáda shopping centre in Karlovy Vary and Central Most shopping centre in Most. Sales rose by a tenth year-on-year in July and August last year, but higher inflation played a big role, he said.
The Decathlon sports chain plans to include a quarter more goods in this year’s sales compared to last year, with an average discount of 12 percent. S.Oliver stores will then launch their summer sales from next week. “We are starting with discounts on early spring collections and will gradually include goods delivered to our stores during the first half of this year,” said Vladislav Hypš, the brand’s manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This year, he said, the range of goods on sale will be eight per cent lower. At the end of the sales, when the discount rate is the highest, the number of employees in stores will increase by a fifth, he added.
Summer shoes, socks and bedding will be included in the discounts this year by the Ovečkárna.cz e-shop. The shop is planning a sale for August. “The amount of the discounts will be comparable to last year, with the difference that we will change the mix of goods on which we will provide a discount as needed,” said Director Ondřej Machala. According to him, the number of visitors to the e-shop during this period increases to three times and in some days even ten times the normal number of days.
Alza, an electronics e-shop, is also currently offering summer discounts, with the biggest demand for home appliances, phones and laptops, according to spokeswoman Eliska Čeřovská. “During the summer sales, we also see increased interest in seasonal goods such as garden furniture, barbecues, swimming pools or water toys,” she added.