Every year, close to the Epiphany, the winter sales begin. By sales, we mean a specific period of discounted sales of goods by commercial activities, regulated by law and foreseen in two specific moments of the year: the summer one and the post-Christmas one. The winter sales begin on the first working day before the Epiphany – this year from January 2nd – and generally last 60 days – until approximately March 31st – although the start and end dates may vary slightly from region to region. But why do they happen precisely in this period?
Let’s see in this article when the practice of sales was born and what the fundamental rules of this period are.
The birth of sales during the fascist era
Why do the sales happen in January? It must be said first of all that the start of the winter sales is regulated by law and set for the first working day before the Epiphany, for a duration of approximately 60 days. But it was during fascism, in 1939, that the first laws were promulgated to regulate the so-called “extraordinary sales”.
At that moment, the two sales categories are established: extraordinary sales – i.e. sales – and liquidation sales. In both cases, they were considered as forms of markdown selling, in which a business tried to quickly sell out all (or most) of its goods thanks to cheap prices.
As regards the sales, there was already talk of the sale of products considered to be of a seasonal nature: the big difference lies in the fact that, once upon a time, the sales could also take place at different times of the year, while now the law clearly establishes that they must take place in July – for the summer period – and in January – for the winter period -.
The regulation of balances
After the fascist period, the first national bill on extraordinary sales arrived in 1979, signed by the Christian Democrat deputy Aristide Tesini. According to Tesini, the regulation was strictly necessary because extraordinary sales were often managed in a misleading way by traders, who implemented illusory advertising by declaring discounts that were not actually carried out.
The bill was then converted into law in 1980 and decreed that the sales would be held in two different periods of the year, for a maximum duration of four weeks. Then, in 1991, two specific periods were set for the sales: from 7 January to 7 March and from 10 July to 10 September. In short, sales have officially taken place in the month of January since 1991.
In 1998 the last changes to the law arrived, still in force: it was established, in fact, that the individual regions were to decide their own starting date for the sales, while remaining in the same periods of the year, winter and summer.
The sales as an end of season sale
In any case, sales, promotional sales and clearance sales are not the same thing. Promotional sales can also be found at other times of the year, but they are a structurally different type of sale. In fact, these are discounts only on some specific products and for limited periods of time. As regards liquidation sales, however, these are discount sales allowed in specific situations, such as the cessation of a commercial activity or the transfer of the company to another location.
Finally, by sales we mean end-of-season sales, i.e. sales involving seasonal products which are depreciated because they remained unsold in the reference season. It is for this reason that they take place precisely in January in the winter period (in July in the summer period) and the goods that we will find discounted will be those relating to the season that has just ended. The word sales, among other things, brings with it this concept: “balance” in fact indicates the difference between income and expenses, in reference to the goods that have remained unsold and which will instead be sold thanks to the markdown sale.
