«Many have already paid in advance, spending a third of their turnover»

Everything is ready also in Sardinia for the summer sales , starting Saturday 5 July for a maximum duration of 60 days. However, there are many who have already taken advantage of the discounts – says Confesercenti – with about 700 million already spent in Italy, almost a third of the total turnover that Codacons values at about 3 billion.

According to an estimate by Confesercenti, one week after the start of the sales, over 6.5 million consumers in Italy have already taken advantage of the offers, spending on average more than 100 euros each . Moreover, the promotional focus is very broad: over half of Italians (52%) have already received offers, even if only a part – 18% of the total – have actually purchased. 34% have received offers but have chosen not to purchase, while 45% say they have not received any offers and 3% do not remember.

Early offers are especially targeting younger age groups: 22% of 18-34 year-olds took advantage of the pre-sales, compared to 17% in the 35-65 age group. Women (20%) are slightly more likely to buy than men (17%).

“In recent years, commercial strategies to anticipate the competition have multiplied,” comments Benny Campobasso, president of Fismo Confesercenti. “Today the regulatory framework clashes with a reality that often escapes controls: a parallel market of discounts and offers, which moves weeks in advance, online and offline.”

“The share of consumers interested in end-of-season discounts – Codacons then specifies – stands between 50% and 55% this year, stable compared to last year, but in free fall compared to 10 years ago, when 7 out of 10 Italians took advantage of the sales. Between e-commerce, online discounts and pre-sales that have now become a practice for all commercial chains, the sales have lost their attractive power on consumers, who can make purchases at discounted prices all year round by taking advantage of offers on the web or special promotions in stores”.

The National Consumers Union expects discounts to be stable compared to those practiced in January 2025, but higher than those of last summer. For clothing and footwear as a whole, the discount is 19%, substantially unchanged compared to this winter (it was 19.1), up 0.9 percentage points on July 2024 (it was 18.1%). Clothing alone (garments + accessories) records an average price decrease of 19.2%, as in January 2025 and up 0.6 points on those of a year earlier (18.6%). In particular, the record for convenience goes to clothing, which represents the item with the greatest reduction, 20.8%, as in the last winter sales and up 0.8 points on a summer ago (20%).

(Online Union)

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