Soldes? Sold!

The holiday season has passed, la saison des soldes (the sale season) has begun! Les soldes are a big deal in France because businesses are regulated differently here. Is it actually illegal to sell merchandise at a loss during any period except the official soldes, which happen for five weeks, twice per year: beginning the second Wednesday of the new year and again on the third Wednesday in June. Companies are allowed to have promotions throughout the year, but those mini-sales can never involve selling a product for a net loss.

There are actually two types of soldes: the two, five-week periods called the soldes fixes and then the soldes libres or soldes flottants ("free" or "floating sales"), which are two weeks of sales that a company or store can designate on their own, within certain restrictions such as the sale can't be immediately before or after one of the soldes fixes periods. The items during the soldes also must show the original price displayed on the price tag, along with the reduced price, to prevent companies from hiking up the prices just before the sales and then artificially lowering them.

I found it really startling that there are laws here prohibiting a company from selling products at a loss. Perhaps we have similar laws in America, but I'm not aware of them. It seems like a very obvious difference in perspective towards commerce and the rights of free enterprise / the government's intervention on behalf of the public good. 

Apparently in the last few years Internet sales and "private sales," accessible to only those patrons with a rewards card or part of a loyalty program, have made the soldes less intense than they used to be. I expected the centre-ville to be packed with shoppers on Wednesday and this weekend, but there didn't seem to be a lot more people than usual. I did do a little soldes shopping myself at a store called Promod and got two dresses and a shirt for just under 30 euro, which quite a bargain considering each of the dresses were 35 euro+ originally. There are also several round of reductions, so it's possible the prices will be even better this coming week, but of course there is the risk that only the XSs and XXLs will be left. That's your memo on French culture for the day!