Effects of French yellow vest movement on end of year sales

Finnian O’Luasa, Paris Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

The French yellow vest movement which began on the 17th of November 2018 following an official announcement on plans for a fuel tax continued every week until well after end of year sales. The first 3 weeks of the movement saw double digit declines in retail sales : -35% on Saturday 17/11, -18% on Saturday 24/11, -8% Saturday 1st of December before gradually becoming more positive (LSA/Nielsen). According to the national council of commercial centres (CNCC) overall footfall in French shopping centres fell by 1.7% for the full year of 2018 due partly to the yellow vest movement which heavily impacted the last quarter footfall figures.

However according the French national Statistics Institute (Insee) turnover figures for food sales rose slightly in December 2018 by +1.2% after declining by -1.1% in November. Performance in Supermarkets is declared to have been better than in hypermarkets. For the full 4th quarter of 2018 food sales are recorded as having increase by +1.1% compared to the previous year. The French ecommerce and distant selling federation (Fevad) have stated that there has not been a significant transfer of physical store sales to e commerce sales according to their study. They state that 21% of respondents to the study declared that they have spent less on end of year presents and 24% that they delayed their purchases due to the social movement.