The 2026 summer sales kick off on June 24. According to the Joko study conducted among 70,000 users, 59% of French consumers plan to take part. Yet 39% feel the event has lost some of its appeal compared to previous years.
This paradox sums up the challenge for retail advertisers in 2026: the audience is there, but it is more selective, more solicited, and less loyal to traditional commercial events. Private sales, flash promotions, permanent campaigns by e-commerce platforms... the competition for attention is now constant.
In this context, broadcast volume is no longer enough. What makes the difference during the sales period is the ability to reach the right profiles at the right time: active-purchase-journey intentionists, sensitive to fashion, home, sport, or beauty offers, with the right levers.
An omnichannel consumer who chooses between store and web
The retail consumer of 2026 no longer thinks in silos. 41% of French people still prefer to shop in-store, according to the Payplug/PrestaShop/OpinionWay study. But their decision journey goes through digital: they discover online, compare on mobile, then go to the store. Or the reverse.
This hybridisation calls for an activation strategy that covers both dimensions simultaneously: generating qualified traffic on the website, and bringing buyers back to the point of sale. Drive-to-web and drive-to-store are not opposites, they complement each other. During the sales period, activating them in parallel maximises reach among high-purchase-intent profiles.
This is precisely the logic Dataventure applies for its retail clients: activating qualified opt-in databases segmented by vertical (fashion, shopping, beauty, lifestyle) across both levers in parallel, with unified management based on measurable site-centric KPIs.
Drive-to-Web: capturing intent before conversion
Emailing and Native Display: the formats that perform on fashion & retail profiles
Emailing on a qualified opt-in database is one of the most effective levers during the sales period to generate qualified traffic to an e-commerce site or a promotional landing page. It allows you to directly reach profiles segmented by product universe: fashion and accessories, home and décor, sport, beauty, with an email kit following best practices: offer featured in the first third, multiplied CTAs, controlled text/image ratio.
Native Display and multichannel Programmatic extend coverage: across content environments frequented by retail and lifestyle profiles, via retargeting of site visitors, or through YouTube and CTV formats for universes with strong visual appeal such as fashion or interior décor. Every activation is managed on a measurable site-centric KPI: visits, conversion, purchase.
In 2026, conversational commerce is also establishing itself as a complementary channel. France is among the top 10 European countries for WhatsApp usage, and RCS extends this logic into the mobile marketing channel: product visuals, action buttons, direct link to the offer, no app download required.
Drive-to-Store: generating in-store traffic during the sales period
For physical retail brands: fashion franchise networks, sports chains, multi-brand beauty groups, home and décor retailers, the sales period is a major drive-to-store moment.
Customers who visit stores during the sales spend more. In-store traffic during this period is high-value traffic. The key is to generate it among the right profiles.
SMS and RCS: the most direct channels for retail
SMS Marketing remains the drive-to-store channel with the highest reactivity. During the sales period, a well-targeted SMS sent to opt-in profiles geolocated near a point of sale generates immediate, measurable in-store traffic. An immediate hook, a clear offer, a sense of urgency, and a clear call to action: these are the four ingredients of a high-performing sales SMS.
RCS is the natural evolution of SMS for retail. It incorporates product visuals, action buttons, links to the current offer or the store's location. The message becomes an enriched experience, no app download required, that amplifies the impact of the drive-to-store activation.
At Dataventure, these activations rely on 10.5 million GDPR-compliant opt-in mobile profiles with an affinity for Fashion, Shopping, Beauty, and Deals, including 2.3 million intentionists in active purchase journeys over the past 3 months. These are not generic volumes: they are qualified, segmented, immediately activatable profiles.
Sales already started? How to activate in 72 hours
Not every advertiser has planned their activation weeks in advance. And it is precisely during the sales period, when saturation is at its peak, that audience quality makes the biggest difference.
Dataventure's levers are operational in 72 hours. The databases are already qualified, the display assets are produced by our teams, the targeting is ready. From brief to broadcast, there are only three days.
In a context where permanent promotions and e-commerce platform flash sales compete with traditional sales events, this capacity for rapid activation on qualified audiences is a decisive advantage.
Key takeaways for the Summer Sales 2026
During the sales period, it is not the biggest budgets that win: it is the most precise ones.
Drive-to-web or drive-to-store, the logic is the same: target qualified opt-in profiles, activate the right levers at the right time, measure every KPI to adjust in real time. Retail brands that perform during the summer sales have one thing in common: they rely on reliable data and fast execution capability.
You want to structure your retail activation for this summer? Let's talk.
