Beauty and fashion keep French sales afloat

John Rimmer

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The AFCOV Index of sales and sales per passenger across French travel-retail outlets reveals some encouraging trends in the third quarter of 2005, but the news remains mixed

The AFCOV Index for the third quarter of 2005 shows encouraging year-on-year growth in sales in key categories across French travel-retail outlets. The index, which measures sales and sales per passenger in the French travel-retail trade and is published by trade body Association Française du Commerce du Voyageur, compares key trends in the sectors of beauty, liquor, tobacco and "other products", including fashion, jewellery and gifts.

A strong month of September saw turnover from the "other products" and beauty categories up by 6.84% and 6.04% respectively on 2004. Of all sectors, only tobacco recorded a fall in year-on-year sales, confirming the decline in duty-paid sales since the French government increased domestic taxes on cigarettes.

Sales per passenger in beauty and "other products" were up on 2004 during the third quarter, but still compare unfavourably to 2002 and 2003. A fall in traffic to the UK since the terrorist bombings of July 7 resulted in sharp falls in sales per passenger in the liquor and tobacco categories.

Click here to view the AFCOV Index for the third quarter 2005.