Retailers gearing up for record sales
As Czechs hit the shops with a vengeance for the traditional post-Christmas and New Year sales, retailers are expecting record profits. But consumer protection experts warn than not all buys are as advantageous as they are made out to be.
Stone and mortar shops which –in line with Czech legislation – have to close their doors over the Christmas holidays spent the time preparing for the post-Christmas and New Year sales and lost no time opening their doors to clients on December 27th.
Tesco stores opened their doors at 7 am on Wednesday, advertising cuts on hundreds of products. Hamleys cut the price on thousands of toys and IKEA announced cuts across the whole spectrum of its sales products. Books, toys, clothes and electronics are selling like hot cakes with many families using the opportunity to buy expensive household goods such as TVs, fridges and washing machines.
While retailers are offering price cuts of up to 80 percent and Czechs are eager to spend, consumer protection experts warn that not all advertised price cuts are as advantageous as they might seem. Some goods where price cuts are advertised are actually being sold for their standard price and in other cases the price-cut is nowhere as big as it is made out to be. Consumers are encouraged to compare prices before going on a spending spree. While on Black Friday many retailers advertised cuts of 50 percent, according to the Heureka.cz site the price reductions averaged at around 17 percent on most goods.
Even so, consumers are expected to take the shops by storm and retailers are gearing up for an end of year sales figure of around forty billion crowns, which is a seven billion increase compared to 2016.
