Peculiarities of the National "Sale"
Right opposite the Kremlin hangs a bright banner: "Sale! Sale! Sale!" "How bold!" exclaimed a French TV journalist who came to Moscow for filming. "The opposition couldn't even dream of something like that here..." "What do you mean?" "Hanging something like that right under the head of state's nose – now that's democracy!.." Of course, there was a linguistic misunderstanding. In French, "sale" means "dirty one", "slanderer", "vile", while a sale is "soldes". But Russians have mastered a volatile mix of English and Nizhny Novgorod over the past few years, so we understand the word "sale" correctly. However, the national "sale" has one peculiarity. It lies in the fact that there are no special legal regulations for this pastime here yet.
They say that sales were invented... in Moscow's Gostiny Dvor in the century before last. If we are to believe experts on antiquity, one rainy day an unnamed merchant from the Knife Line of Gostiny Dvor was walking down the street. And a peddler approached him with raisins: "Take them, sir, leftovers! I'll give them cheap..." The leftovers turned out to be not so few: seven pounds – about 3 kilograms. And the merchant began selling raisins in his shop under an unprecedented motto: "Leftovers are sweet! Quality goods at the cheapest prices." They say there was no end of customers. Other members of the Moscow merchant guild also liked the experiment. Soon they established a rule: to hold wholesale sales of leftover goods on the so-called "Thomas Monday", the first day of the week after Easter. Within a few years, the sale epidemic that started in Kitai-Gorod spread throughout Moscow. And from the French working in luxurious shops on Kuznetsky Most, the whole of Europe soon learned about the operation codenamed "Leftovers are sweet!"...
But seriously, the first sales began in Europe back in the 18th century. Colonial goods were being brought to the Old World, many of which were perishable. Merchants needed to free up warehouse space as quickly as possible. So wholesale sales started. In English – "sales", in French – "soldes", in Spanish – "rebajas", in Swedish – "rea", in Italian – "saldi"... Little has changed in the principles of trade since that distant time. And today, sales are held primarily to avoid overstocking warehouses.
"The economy of a trading company specializing in light industry products, and indeed any brand's economy, is built on the frequency of deliveries and seasons," Natalia Chinenova, general director of the Moscow representative office of the corporation SELA, told Itogi. "As soon as the main part of the collection is sold, the remaining goods can already be sold at a discount. The point of a sale is to reduce the cost of storing unsold goods and to obtain working capital. As a rule, at the beginning of a seasonal sale, the store should have no more than 30% of leftovers. At the end of the sale, ideally, they should be 5-10%... How is the discount mechanism formed? That is a trade secret of each merchant. In essence, it all depends on the quantity of inventory remaining at the end of the season and the standards set by the brand."
What else can be added? First of all, despite the general principles of organizing sales, their conduct here and abroad is very different. So, in our megacities, there is a belief that sales are usually held before holidays: Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc. Suffice it to recall the well-known perfume chain with its commercials: "And we have New Year! A sale all year round!" This is incorrect: in the West, "sales" are most often held after the holidays. This is logical. For a holiday, a customer will buy a gift for themselves or loved ones without much coaxing. But try to make that same person buy something after the fiesta, on weekdays, hungover, and with a depleted wallet! That requires special ingenuity. And so – a real sale.
Another common misconception prevalent in our parts. This is the myth that – we quote one such "professional magazine" – "in luxury stores, a sale is never associated with prestige; a quality boutique does not need to resort to sales." Nonsense! Just seeing how many people crowd at the prestigious London department store Harrods on the first day of sales is enough to understand the fallacy of this statement. Any regular of Parisian "soldes" knows that the highest quality items at reduced prices can be bought during sale days, primarily in the famous boutiques on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. In those very shops where branded bags, dresses, accessories, and other eternally fashionable items from the most fashionable and expensive international firms are sold... And the famous store "Frank et Fils" in Passy! Here, in the heart of the Golden Triangle of Paris – Neuilly-Auteuil-Passy, – there are at least three times more mink coats per square meter on the first day of sales than on Rublyovka. A trail of expensive perfume floats and swirls in the air, diamonds glint on rings and brooches! Almost from midnight, well-groomed wives of "honest bourgeois" wait for the treasured opportunity to be the first to storm the temple of haute couture, where the discount on truly high-quality items, not junk at a penny price, sometimes reaches 70%. To fly in earlier than others, clutching a purse with credit cards to their chest, and grab everything – as long as the prices are lowered, grab, grab, grab!..
Order is needed in everything
In Europe, which is rational and organized, the procedure for holding sales is strictly regulated. But each country has its own specifics.
For example, in Belgium, the law provides for two periods for "soldes": four weeks in January and the same in July. They are preceded by two so-called preliminary phases: one from November 15, the other from May 15. What does this mean? Everything is under control: at the designated time, merchants are not allowed to raise prices or conduct markdowns on the eve of sales. What can I say, smart! Thus, shoppers have less chance of falling victim to price fraud. The classic deception: the price tag indicates that the price is halved, but the buyer charmed by the markdown has no idea that shortly before the start of the sales, the merchant doubled it in order to now demonstratively lower it.
In Spain, in each of the 17 autonomous regions of the country, the time of "rebajas" is determined by local authorities. Thus, in Madrid, sales are held this year from January 1 to March 31, in Catalonia from January 7 to March 6... During this period, each merchant is obliged to decide at his own discretion when he will trade at humane prices. However, this era of mercy must be no less than a week and no more than two months. According to the Spanish Confederation of Commerce, during last year's winter sales, residents of the kingdom spent €250 each.
In Holland and Germany, sales have no fixed date. All kinds of discounts, markdowns and allowances can be made throughout the year. But even in these countries, where commerce is relatively liberal, the merchants themselves practice conscious restrictions. For example, in Germany, by agreement between traders, sales begin throughout the country on January 21. This is more convenient both for merchants, who can prepare an effective advertising campaign for the sale, and for customers, who have long developed a conditioned reflex to markdowns precisely at the end of January.
In Italy, "saldi" are strictly regulated. By law, the authorities of each region decide when they can start and close them. Thus, in Rome and Milan, "saldi" began this year on January 5, in Naples on January 2, and in Calabria on January 15. In Piedmont, sales last a full three months, until March 31, and in the south of the Apennines only until February 28. According to forecasts of the Italian Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, "saldi" will affect up to 12 million Italian families this year, each of which will spend up to €500 on the sale.
By the way, in the United Kingdom, where since 1974 there has been an entire code of sales, corresponding to the principles of the international code Sales Promotion prepared by the International Chamber of Commerce, "sales" are not regulated by time. But most large stores and fashion boutiques organize sales immediately after Christmas and in June. For example, at Harrods, sales begin on December 28 and last until January 26. A third of the volume of winter commerce in Sweden falls on the week of sales after December 25: 20 billion kronor, which equals €2.2 billion.
The French are no exception. This year, by decree of the Paris Prefecture, "soldes" began on January 9. During the four to six weeks of winter sales in the Fifth Republic, usually a quarter to half of the annual volume of goods is sold. This, contrary to expectations, does not at all inspire optimism in the soul of Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment. After all, if statistics are to be believed, foreign shopping enthusiasts are increasingly less likely to come to Paris for marked-down goods, preferring London and even the United Arab Emirates, where the Dubai Shopping Festival has been successfully held for over ten years. There, by the way, prizes are raffled among shopaholics. The main one is 100 kilograms of pure gold. Indeed: the markdown is small, but the prize is precious!
But in Russia, there are no rules for organizing and conducting sales. As Vitaly Andreev, Deputy Head of the Planning and Coordination Department of the Rospotrebnadzor Office for the City of Moscow, told Itogi, the timing of sales is not regulated. "That is, such trading can go on constantly here. In the West, competition occurs from an oversupply of goods: whoever started selling earlier wins. So that no one has an advantage, they established the time of sales. I see no point in such a restriction here... Price formation is free here, there are no violations." In practice, winter sales usually start here in mid-December to end in late February. As for summer, the "sales" period is from late June - early July to late August. However, these dates may vary depending on the activity of competing stores and, of course, weather conditions.
Well, that's just great! Over there abroad, sales are pre-holiday, but in our fatherland they turn out not to be sales, but almost a holiday that is always with you. Only the prices are very biting at these very specific celebrations of the counter. "As a rule, our maximum discounts are much more modest than Western ones," admits Galina Vasilyeva, retail director of the chain of Danish multi-brand stores FRANSA and B.Young. "This is especially true for expensive brands... But we pay more attention to window displays and advertising campaigns during the sales period."
Windows are certainly good, but the aforementioned trick—prices are raised before sales and then supposedly lowered—is widely used in large cities. It turns out that amid our domestic "sales," when hyped collections triumphantly become cheaper by 50-70%, buyers have a chance to finally purchase an item at its real, true price. That is, the markdown is just a myth invented by marketers. But what can you do—it's not punishable... As a result, you can't buy a good item really cheap here. Domestic travel agencies have long felt this: they organize shopping trips to Europe and the Persian Gulf countries specifically during their seasonal sales. It's doubly frustrating, considering that, according to chroniclers and local historians, sales were invented in Russia.
“I think amendments should be made to the law ‘On Consumer Protection’ regarding the organization and conduct of sales,” says Valery Gushcha, managing partner of the legal company “Legal Expert.” “Advertising of sales should be truthful, and information about them should be as open as possible for the consumer.” Then it would be much more pleasant for citizens to participate in domestic “sales” rather than flying far away for shopping.
Kirill PRIVALOV, Natalya SALYAKHOVA. 