Six days before the official sales even start, Luxembourg City’s Grand Rue was already packed with people, with car parks full to the brim.
According to Robert Goeres, president of the Luxembourg Retail Federation (LRF), full car parks are a clear sign that shoppers are turning up in force, and he noted a consistent pattern of parking spaces being occupied not only during the day, but well into the evening.
A key question for retailers is whether consumers are still willing to spend, and the answer, judging from Saturday’s activity, appears to be affirmative. Several sectors reported heavy footfall, with long queues forming at the tills as shoppers took advantage of discounts of up to 50 percent.
Goeres explained that online retail and social media now largely dictate consumer expectations, and physical shops have no choice but to follow suit. As he put it, the retail sector has always had to evolve with the times, and shops today must adjust their strategies and listen closely to what customers want.
The modern hunt for bargains begins as early as late November with Black Friday. The next wave of reductions coincides with the start of the official winter sales, which run from 2 to 31 January.
Goeres pointed to a recent study by the polling company Luxembourg Institute for Social Research (ILRES) conducted this summer, which showed that 60 percent of Luxembourgers surveyed deliberately wait for the sales. Perhaps unexpectedly, he said, most prefer to take advantage of the discounts in Luxembourg itself, with fewer than 20 percent looking to the Greater Region for cross-border bargains.
When asked about the recent change in legislation governing shop opening hours on Sunday, Goeres said most retailers will first observe how customers respond before deciding whether extended opening times make sense. For the city centre in particular, he does not see enough demand for extended opening times on Sunday.
