The Cyprus winter sales are now open, but are they worth it?

January 7 saw the beginning of the post Christmas and New Year winter sales in Cyprus, although some shops jumped the gun somewhat and boasted a brisk trade since last Sunday.

The President of the Shopkeepers Association (POVEK) Stefanos Koursaris was quick to comment to the media that "It is illegal for shops to begin the sales before they are officially announced. The Ministry of Commerce has overall responsibility for this law, they have taken businesses to court many times before. It is not in the interests of shops or consumers." A spokesperson of the ministry commented to the media "All these discounts are illegal, and shops are not allowed to sell before the date announced by the minister."

What a sad state of affairs for the poor consumer in Cyprus! In the first instance, most of Europe featured sales and discounts long before Cyprus, with most of them starting on Boxing Day (26.12.09). Why does Cyprus have to be so far behind the rest of Europe? Why are there so many Government regulated unecessary restrictions? Much of which amounts to protectionism and is not conducive to the free market forces of Europe? With everything closed on Boxing day and many establishments also closed on the Saturday following, it meant that in reality Shoppers had to wait until the following Monday to shop, still with no sales, thereby losing the ideal opportunity!

The consumer in Cyprus loses out in another way too. That is for many brands and shops, the prices are more expensive here in Cyprus from the outset for the majority of products than on the rest of the continent. When one delves a little deeper by factoring in the over-pricing of products, the discounts do not look quite so appealing. For example I saw Italian shirts discounted from 80 euro to 40 euro, yet in Italy its possible to buy the same thing for 30 - 35 euro with no discount!

Over-pricing of products has been a reality for as long as I can remember here in Cyprus. A classic age old example to illustrate the over-pricing is Marks&Spencer. They used to leave the Pound symbol on all prices, however the was for GBP and not CYP, meaning a 10-20% additional cost was levied.

STRATEGY
50% seems to be the lead discount in most shop windows this year. M&S, Debedems, Next, Zara and many more are plugging this, however when one enters the store a great part of the real discounts are lower than 50%, typically 30%.

The usual trend is that the unsold stock will later be progressively discounted (towards February) by most stores, however one will need to be an odd or extreme size to pick up anything decent by this time. Sales are generally best for the over-sized and/or under-sized. For example XXL and SMALL are always the last to go in clothing. Massive 12 shoe sizes or the other extremes will also be left on the sales table.

Enjoy the sales while they last and you might want to consider traveling somewhere else in Europe next year for holiday Shopping convenience and better value.