The shops have been reopening for just over a month, but it's already time to talk about summer sales. This year the discount season will start later than usual in almost all Italian regions. The purpose of the deferment is to allow traders to recoup, at least a small part, the earnings from full-price sales. Two months of forced closure, due to the coronavirus, have in fact inflated stocks and put a strain on the retail trade sector, one of the most affected by the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
SALE STARTING AUGUST 1st
The conference of the Regions led by the Governor of Emilia Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, responding to the inputs launched by the trade associations, established that in 2020 the summer sales will start on August 1st. "The decision stems from a request from the councilors for production activities and is motivated by the needs deriving from the management of the epidemiological emergency from COVID 19 and the consequent measures", reads the institution's note.
DISCOUNTS ALREADY IN JULY
Almost all the Regions immediately adapted to the joint provisions, postponing the start of the sales to 1 August. The end date, as per tradition, will vary from territory to territory, but in general in almost all Regions the sales will last 6-8 weeks.
However, the discounts could start as early as next week (No, it's not a contradiction). To the delight of consumers, however, exceptions have been made. National legislation prohibits commercial establishments from carrying out promotional sales in the 30 days preceding the sales. However, many Regions have suspended the ban, thus allowing shops to start discounts as early as 2 July. Among the Regions that have given the green light to promotional sales prior to the sales are, for example, Veneto, Lombardia, Liguria and Lazio.
“The Council, with a unanimous vote which I greatly appreciated, gave the green light to a law which is in fact another anti-virus, anti-crisis tool useful for supporting the commerce sector in Rome and Lazio. The constraint that prevented traders from being able to make promotional sales close to the start of the sales falls, gives greater flexibility in the management of trade with the aim of relaunching purchases.
SALE TO START ON JULY 1ST IN SICILY AND CALABRIA
Sicily and Calabria have however decided to anticipate the times. In Calabria the sales season will officially begin on July 1st and end two months later on September 1st. "It is therefore a measure to give our small economic and productive realities the oxygen to resist the period of forced closure and restart with the rules of social distancing", explained the vice president Spirlì.
The same start date also in Sicily, where, however, the sales will end on September 15th.
