JOANNE Watkinson
THE MIDSUMMER MADNESS OF SALES
This June felt so familiar, finally a return to “normal” June – Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and the summer solstice marked by a mini-heatwave and the return of the Glastonbury festival.
Another familiar June occurrence is the sales.
Before most people have dug out their suitcase full of holiday clothes, the big retailers pull the plug on current season stock by discounting and slashing the prices of anything that perhaps hasn’t performed as well as expected.
June sales never did make any sense to me. We have barely scratched the surface of the season. All those clothes that once had the potential to get a starring role in your summer now look messy and undesirable in the shops. And we all know that feeling of spotting something in the sale that just weeks ago you bought at full price. That really stings. Discounting is a sales driver. I get it. Fast fashion retailers plan mark-downs into their sales forecast. It’s no skin off their nose to offer 30% – 40% off a product that was super cheap to manufacture, but for small brands and
independent retailers, discounting piles a lot of pressure on.
They can’t afford to offer such generous discounts and can be left struggling to stay in favour with bargainhunting consumers.
End-of-season sales I understand better. They are a clear-out operation to turn stock into cash, but if there is so much excess stock mid-season that a half price sale is required, something is very wrong?
Small brands which avoid making surplus stock have less to mark down and therefore create less waste.
It’s a much more sustainable business model.
When it comes to sale shopping we should apply the same reasoning to our sale purchases as our full price ones?
I ask myself, do I love it? Will I wear it more than once? Am I buying it to scratch an itch or – and I wonder who will admit to this – am I buying it to validate myself after seeing it on an influencer?
It’s called mindful shopping and could make you feel much better than a half-price sale grab.
Let me know how you get on.