Summer sales were disappointing for many retailers, who say weak consumer spending and the heatwave hit turnover hard.
That is the shared assessment of the Syndicat Neutre pour Indépendants (SNI), the Flemish sector body Mode Unie and the employers’ federation Unizo, on the eve of the end of the discount period.
According to an SNI survey, 80% of retailers said this year’s summer sales had not been good for their turnover. The organisation said this continues a trend seen in recent years.
“There has been a certain gloom in consumer behaviour during the sales for several years now,” said SNI secretary-general Christophe Wambersie. “Customers are not necessarily fewer in number, but they are spending less.”
Mode Unie, which represents independent fashion shops in Flanders, and Unizo said the ongoing war and the threat of higher oil prices and consumer prices in the autumn had also weighed on shoppers’ minds.
The heatwaves made the situation worse, according to the SNI. It said the period of extreme heat had a direct impact on city centre shops, benefiting air-conditioned shopping centres and e-commerce instead.
That reduced footfall in local shops and left retailers with large stocks, particularly of items such as summer jumpers and trousers. Those products are also more expensive than the lighter summer clothing that sold better during the hot spell.
A different picture in Wallonia
UCM, the French-speaking inter-professional employers' organisation, which surveyed independent retailers in Wallonia and Brussels at the start and end of the sales period, gave a somewhat different picture. It said the general view was that the July 2026 heatwave did not reduce shop visits.
Among the retailers it questioned, four in five described the 2026 summer sales as satisfactory. Even so, they said the sales no longer draw crowds or create queues outside shops on the morning of the first day.
“The finding is almost unanimous: sales are no longer the period customers were waiting for,” UCM said. It linked that trend to a stronger online presence among independent retailers and renewed customer confidence in local independent shops.
A separate survey by Mode Unie and Unizo found that one in three independent fashion retailers, or 33.3%, sold more than during last year’s summer sales. More than one in four, 27.5%, reported unchanged sales, while 39.1% sold less.
On average, fashion shops sold nearly 1% less than during the summer sales of 2025, the two organisations said.
They added that many people returned to shopping streets during the final two weeks of the sales period, but this was not enough to fully offset the poor results of the first fortnight.
Despite the difficulties, retailers remain firmly attached to the legally defined sales system, the SNI said. It described it as “a safeguard for independents against unfair competition and the permanent promotions of major retail chains”.
A recent opinion by the Council of State has weakened the legal framework governing the use of the word “sales”. In response to that legal uncertainty, the organisation called on political authorities to find a legislative solution quickly.
