BOLZANO. If Athens cries, Sparta does not laugh. Translation: if luxury is struggling in this advent of commercial ebb, even the rest, nestled in the less exclusive shop windows, is no longer running like a year ago. So much so Philipp Moser reveals the first figures that redesign the new frames also of the Portici and the center: «Only on the days of the Immaculate Conception we recorded a -12% in sales». Il president of the Trade Union it is no coincidence that he mentions the most consumerist weekend of the year: in 2023 the same days had been a cavalcade of purchases. With an additional element of reflection, which runs through the entire pre-Christmas period, reaching up to these last hours before closing on Christmas Eve: it is luxury, the big brands, the items that do not offer discounts, those that are suffering from plus this glimpse of 2024.
Try to explain the phenomenon Thomas Rizzolli (Commerce Union delegate for Bolzano): «Generally speaking, the most sought after “logos” are affected by a global phenomenon: the contraction of the large Russian and Chinese markets, those with large spending capacity. Now their warehouses, I understand, are full. Furthermore, the salaries of the majority of consumers are stuck at last year, while costs have risen.”
Here are the elements that would have had an impact on the specific provincial and, above all, Bolzano area. «We saw an early winter already at the end of September and October, with low temperatures. This – according to Rizzolli – has spread the seasonal changes in clothing until reaching these weeks with almost zero demand”.
But that’s not enough: what weighs most and goes beyond even the objective potential in terms of consumer spending is a specific point: it’s uncertainty. Which produces an attitude that is its consequence. «Many tell me: let’s wait for better times. Let’s keep our wallets still”, says the centre’s shopkeeper. But it is not only those at the head of the large trade organizations who are experiencing a climate of contraction in purchases, with particular regard to less popular product categories.
So that also to the Oberalpone of the privileged hubs of urban and non-urban consumption with Salewa stores and more, a series of reflections have been lined up trying to identify causes and contexts. «I think of three elements – he comments Heiner Oberrauchwhich leads the reference holding – starting from the dates: this year the Immacolata, the traditional appointment for especially “Italian” purchases, fell on Sunday, then the contraction in the appeal of prestigious brands and finally the cause of this ‘last: the cost of living and purchasing power in general which, in the perception of many, has discouraged heavy expenditure.”
Finally, a further point of reference for the Portici clothing sector shows that it has registered innovations in the commercial dynamics that have been reconfigured at this end of the season. Thomas Demetzdirector of the Oberrauch Zitt store, while broadening his gaze to the last few months (“generally speaking we cannot complain given the times” he prefaces), captures some critical issues: “The purchasing power of families has been reduced and also in an area such as ours which offers high-end clothing, a lower propensity to spend was noticed.” Now the next step, which will have to act as a litmus test: the next post-Christmas sales. With an underlying fear: this year’s summer ones didn’t go so well…