Fashion giant Zara saw its workers strike in demand for wage increases and better labour conditions on Saturday – the day the much-anticipated winter sales started.
Large Spanish retail companies like Zara’s mother company Inditex and El Corte Inglés are selling products at a huge discount until mid-January to help consumers cope with inflation, which in Spain stood at 5.8% in December.
To thwart the winter sales that are a hit with consumers, trade union CGT called on Zara employees and workers in the group’s other shops to stage a strike to demand higher wages, financial daily Cinco Días reported.
Spaniards will indeed spend €94.40 per person on average during the winter sales, fresh data from financial comparator Banqmi has revealed.
Spending this year will stay below the €96.30 that was spent during the winter sales of 2022 and 2020 but will remain above the spending of 2021 when average spending was €93.10.
Lower spending is mainly due to the impact of the high inflation rate recorded in recent months, though the outlook for the sales period “is not so bad” after a Christmas sales campaign that turned out to be “more positive than expected”, Banqmi sources stressed.
By region, citizens of the Basque Country will spend the most, with an estimated average of €110.20, ahead of citizens of Rioja (€106.80), Valencia (€103.30) and Navarre (€102.90).
At the same time, those who will spend the least will be the citizens of Galicia (€ 81), The Canary Islands (€ 82.30) and consumers in Castilia and León (€ 85.30).
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
