Consumers are finding less attractive the sales that take place during the sales campaign. Until the previous regulation is reverted and the prevailing lack of control is eliminated, it will be very difficult to recover the positive impact of this campaign. From the Spanish Confederation of Commerce, CEC they believe that this summer campaign will follow the trend of the last periods of sales, with sales losses or very slight growths, an increase that they estimate will not exceed 3% year-on-year. However, among merchants there is a slight optimism before these sales, with the hope that they serve to trace the irregular spring-summer campaign, marked by the political instability and by the climatology, with low temperatures until almost entered the summer.
In the opinion of the organization, the rebates are maintained by tradition, but the lack of regulation means that they have become a period of further discounts, in which each establishment can start and finish the day that most interests them, and put more or less aggressive discounts depending on the margins that can be allowed .
As Pedro Campo, vice president of the CEC, explains, the sales have been absolutely distorted: "To further aggravate the situation, the advance of the campaign, especially by the big firms and chains, begins to be already massive, there is no type of rule, and the big losers are, once again, the small and medium ones traders who are pushed to compete as they can, but logically in a clear inequality. "
In the words of Pedro Campo, "today we have reached a situation in which it is almost more complicated to find a product without discount than with it". For the whole sector, but particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, it is very difficult to maintain a policy of continuous discounts throughout the year, with the consequence that the discounts that are finally offered in rebates are not as spectacular as those of a few years ago, with the final damage to the consumer.
To this situation is added the climatic factor, which has an increasingly negative impact, especially on textiles and footwear. "The merchants are forced to reduce their summer collections when they had almost started to sell them." An unsustainable situation that is ending the profitability of many SMEs of commerce.
The situation of chaos in what concerns the sales is a reality and from the CEC consider that it should return to the regulation before 2012, something they have repeatedly asked the current Government in office, and hope to resume as soon as the new Executive is formed with the highest priority. However, they also consider that the regulated periods of rebates must respond to new consumption habits, adapting their duration and adjusting their dates according to the weather.
We can not forget that this liberalization has led, in the last instance, to situations that suppose a lack of protection of the consumer. For this reason, it must be ensured that all the requirements are fulfilled so that the rebates that are made are authentic: for example, that all the discounted products have been previously for sale and are not merchandise expressly created for the sales, or that the products are properly labeled, with the old price and the new one.