While sales in the first week of the summer holidays were very good, customers soon became scarce, partly due to the gloomy weather, shows a survey of retailers by the Neutral Syndicate for the Self-Employed.
"The gloomy weather in July has certainly put a damper on customers' appetite for walking through the shopping streets," the organisation said in an announcement on Sunday.
The first week was very good – even excellent in some cities – mainly thanks to a promising first weekend, but retailers were soon "disillusioned," the survey stated.
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The rest of the month was quieter with fewer customers, so they were soon tempted to increase discounts further, retailers said. All in all, retailers think that this year will generally be at the same level as last year.
However, the trend looks bleaker in Wallonia, where the shorter summer holidays in education seem to have had a negative effect. "Customers probably left on holiday earlier," retailers said.
