APCC confident January sales mark recovery

The Portuguese Association of Shopping Centres (APCC) believes that the January sales could mark the beginning of the sector’s recovery.

On the day that the sales began on 15 January, the CEO of the APCC, Rodrigo Moita de Deus, said “the opening of the sales period may be the start of a year continuing the growth and recovery of trading for physical shops that began in the second half of 2021 with positive sales”.
In a communiqué, the APCC welcomed “the (January) sales for physical shops, instead of just online shopping being the exclusive domain of sales and social offers.”
“The APCC has doubts as to the effects of prohibiting the (January) sales to contain the pandemic, and points out that this has caused losses to both consumers and companies, creating a situation of imbalanced competition through the dominance of international online retail commerce”. (meaning sites such as Amazon)
The APCC stresses “that the safety of consumers is ensured during the period of the sales in shopping centres”, mentioning the “efforts and investments that its members had made to ensure conditions of exceptional safety and hygiene in shopping centres”.