Why the sales have become nonsense (for a while)

Do sales still mean anything?

Frankly, I would like to tell you that the sales still mean something. But today, it's really rubbish. Brands have never been more capable of producing the quantities that customers want, buying at just the right stock levels.

And yet, there have never been so many sales. From the first day, or even two months before with pre-sales or VIP sales, we already have products at -50%. The Covid-19 crisis has certainly been there, with an impact on stocks, but that does not change the root of the problem. The fashion world is on its head .

What is the difference between sales and private sales?

In an ideal world, private sales and sales are something very different. The sales are controlled by the State and allow a brand to sell off the end of stock of the season, selling for less than the purchase price.

And therefore lose money by destocking. Except that sales have become a marketing technique that allows brands to oversell outside of sales, to give people the feeling of getting a good deal.

Private sales are basically used to retain your best customers and thank them by allowing a limited number of people to access better prices. They have become a sort of marketing offshoot of the sales. The brand can only sell at discounted prices because its consumers are addicted to sales .

And then since 2018, a few French fast fashion companies have invented French Days. The opportunity to sell the same clothes made in Viet-Nam or Bangladesh as usual, but with a big blue, white and red brushstroke on top.

This is proof that it has become a big marketing festival , which takes place all year round.

So private sales and other French Days are bogus?

Yes, it's completely bogus .

Brands are so desperate to have customers outside of sales, because they are no longer able to sell at full price, that we need one more excuse to go discounting .

Does that mean we get fooled all the time?

For 95% of brands, the consumer is being fooled . By all these brands which are established in the street, which invest massively in marketing, which have large stores in the main streets of each city, which advertise on TV...

Afterwards, there are 5 or 10% of small brands , creators or which have existed for a very long time, called heritage brands. All these brands that continue to make good quality play the game during the sales . They are not going to offer you -50% all year round, but -20 or -30%. With their small margin level, it will be a real effort (or a “fair price” if they are brands that usually sell via intermediaries).

And in this year 2 of Covid, we can expect to encounter some similar operations even among small brands which usually do not have sales.

How to make a success of your sales?

You need to understand what you are buying . You don't have to say to yourself, there's 80%, I'm sure I'm getting a good deal. Because, moreover, I am not able to identify which brands are cheating and which are real discounters.

We are here to help you , through our articles and videos. We've been doing this for twelve years. You can even ask your questions by email, on the site or on Facebook. We respond to almost 5,000 comments each month.

Is the discount rate a good indicator?

So, really pay close attention to the discount level . The brands know that they only sell on sale, so to continue to make margins, a shirt that should be 120 euros, they put it at 200 euros. It’s the Sandro, Zadig and Voltaire and company effect.

Then, they do -50% and -70% at the end of the sales to give you the feeling that you are getting a good deal. Inform yourself, educate yourself, learn to recognize quality , ask yourself whether it is a brand that invests massively in marketing and large stores or whether it is there to do things intelligently.

But do you buy on sale?

So, I buy on sales, but there are sales and sales. You will never see me going to brand villages , department stores, Amazon Prime Days, Black Fridays (and soon what? Crazy Covid Days?).... That's not where I find the brands that really play the game.

You might come across me in small boutiques or on small e-shops . And there, I will buy brands that I already know. I also buy when it's not discounted, because I know what the product is worth. Sometimes I buy at 100% of the price, other times at -20%.

Why doesn’t BonneGueule have sales?

After all this, I completely understand that in the jungle of sales, promo codes, and other private sales, some people are perplexed and hesitate to buy anything other than a marked price.

For our part, we believe that a healthier and more honest approach is possible.

We work without intermediaries, without huge advertising budgets, and with reduced margins.

And we never stop refining the quality/price ratio of each product.

This allows us to offer you quality clothing at a price that seems fairer to us (at least 30% below the market for equal quality).

We therefore favor a relationship of trust, based on transparency, explanation of the product, and a high quality/price ratio all year round. And we remain competitive, even during sales periods.

We completely accept that some readers may turn away "because there are no sales".

But we also see that more and more of you are sharing our simpler and fairer approach for the consumer (we are also observing an increase, and not a decrease, in the number of BonneGueule orders during the sales!).

This is why we remain faithful to this approach, and refuse the vicious circle of promotions, which ultimately only benefits brands who have forgotten their clothes and those who wear them.

For clearer and fairer fashion.