Prague – Fashion retailers in the Czech Republic are gradually starting traditional summer sales. This year, some of them hope to sell out the stocks that they accumulated in previous months due to lower demand, according to their statements to ČTK. Traders are focusing on the biggest events between July and August, when the rate of discount reaches several tens of percent.
According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, sales for clothing, footwear and leather goods stagnated year-on-year from January to April, falling by almost six percent.
Since the beginning of last year, the amendment to the Consumer Protection Act, which is intended to make it more difficult to introduce fake promotions, requires traders to derive the amount of discounts from the lowest price for which they sold goods 30 days before the discount. If they have had the product on offer for less than 30 days, they must list the lowest price for that period.
Traders are also obliged to inform about its original price on the product.
From the beginning of June to the middle of August this year, sales are going on at the Freeport Fashion Outlet in Znojmo. “In general, the supply of goods has been very high in recent years. Interest in fashion has practically stagnated since covid,
merchants still have large surpluses of unsold goods and they need to get rid of them,” said director Jiří Procházka. According to him, in July, the amount 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 weaker spring sales,
because this year’s spring season almost didn’t take place at all in this respect,” said Martin Malý, spokesperson for the EPG Group, which includes the Varyáda shopping centers in Karlovy Vary and Central Most in Most. According to him, last July and August sales increased by a tenth year-on-year, a higher inflation played a huge role in that aspect, he said.
Sports chain Decathlon plans to include a quarter more goods in this year’s sales compared to the last year, and will discount them by an average of 12 percent. starting the next week, S.Oliver stores will launch the summer sales. “We are starting with discounts on early spring collections and will gradually include in the discounts goods delivered to our stores during the first half of this year,
” said the brand manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Vladislav Hypš. According to him, this year the offer of discounted goods will be eight percent lower. At the end of the sales, when the discount rate is the highest, the number of employees in the stores will increase by a fifth, he added.
This year, the Ovečkárna.cz e-shop will include summer footwear, socks and bedding in the discounts. The store is planning sales for August.
“The amount of discounts will be comparable to last year, with the difference that we will change the mix of goods on which we will provide discounts as needed,” said ČTK director Ondřej Machala. According to him, the number of visits to the e-shop during this period increases to three times and on some days even ten times that of normal days.
Summer discounts are currently also offered by the Alza electronics e-shop,
according to spokesperson Eliška Čeřovská, the biggest demand is for household appliances, telephones or laptops. “During the summer sales, we also notice an increased interest in seasonal goods, such as garden furniture, grills, swimming pools or water toys,” she added.