After extreme declines due to the pandemy in the Travel category (flights, travel deals, tickets, camping equipment and such) and the Fashion category, things are looking up – at least for Fashion. The decline in this category began to slightly reverse in the CEE region.
In the Czech Republic the biggest drop in sales happened on March 11, 2020, and since March 13, 2020 we recorded a double-digit decline for all the Fashion retailers. In Slovakia, the Fashion category reached rock bottom on March 13 and March 23, 2020, and sales are increasing ever since. In Hungary and Romania, the day the Fashion category reached the bottom, was March 26, 2020.
Some retailers tried to slow down the free fall with various discounts and campaigns such as free shipping, extremely large discounts, coupons and such. The sales of all Fashion retailers across the CEE region started to increase similarly around March 26. – 27.3.2020. This date was a turning point to all the countries, and since then with some fluctuations the sales are going upwards. The curve has been steadily increasing since the end of March, and in the middle of April it slightly exceeded the results from the beginning of March.
We experienced nightmarish three weeks, which drove the affiliate partners, who have projects in the Fashion category, to ripping their hair out.
Here's a daily report in Euro of the sales in the Fashion category across CEE:
If only the partners from the Travel category could also catch a breath. This category has been losing ground since the beginning of the year. By mid-February, the sales were declining by a percentage in the double digits each week, and during March they fell to near zero. Travel is facing a great recession, especially the partners of the flight booking engines — which at the moment are almost irrelevant — who have to adapt to the new situation or start other projects.
Perhaps these affiliate partners could try adding bus travel and train travel features, or other alternative means of transport, and local accommodation offers with the help of our advertisers Hotels.com or Booking.com. It can be more than an year until people return to flying in such numbers as before. There is a rejuvenation of automobile, bus and train transport.
