Online shops trounce the high street over winter fashion sales
FASHION chains with decent websites are outclassing rivals struggling to cope with the digital revolution.
Primark, which has no website where you can buy its wares, reported flat sales for the 16 weeks to January 2 from shops that have been open for more than a year.
Meanwhile, online-only young fashion website Asos revealed sales in the four months to the end of December jumped 22pc boosted by demand for women’s evening wear, knee-high boots and men’s outerwear.
Asos chief executive Nick Beighton said: ‘We had record sales over cyber weekend in November and have seen further growth in average order frequency, average basket value and number of orders, alongside an acceleration in active customer growth to 18pc.’
Although sales were strong, Asos margins were damaged after it had to cut prices overseas to match currency fluctuations. It reported a 0.4pc fall in profit margins and its shares fell 55p to 3125p yesterday.
Primark, owned by Twinings tea maker Associated British Foods, blamed the weather for its performance.
Finance director John Bason said: ‘Shoppers have not been disadvantaged by us not having ecommerce – clearly that is not our model. The weather was unseasonal – we will move on from here.
‘Trading in the New Year has already started strongly.’
Primark is one of the few remaining retailers that does not sell items online – its margins are so thin it would struggle to make a profit from ecommerce.
However, experts argue that retailers with no website will lose out in the long run. The mild weather before Christmas saw shoppers leave winter woollies on the shelves while flooding and fears of terrorism put off many from visiting the high streets.
Sportswear-to-fashion chain JD Sports pulled off a remarkable 10.6pc sales sprint in the five weeks up to January 2.
Executive chairman Peter Cowgill said its website and shops performed well, having been boosted by young people buying sports-inspired fashions.
He said demand for its brands including Armani’s sportswear label EA7, Fred Perry, Nike and Lacoste helped growth. Its success is in contrast to rival Sports Direct (down 6.1p to 421.7p), which last week issued a profit warning that annual profits could be £40m lower than expected.
Cowgill acknowledged the weather and the apparent decline in people shopping on the high street. He added: ‘We will never know how much better we may have been if the weather had been different and more people were on the high street.’
JD now expects full-year pretax profit to beat the expected £136m by up to 10pc and its shares rose 44p to 1102p.
Shore Capital’s analyst George Mensah said: ‘We believe Asos should be a primary beneficiary of a wider consumer structural transition to shopping predominantly online.’
Superdry-owner SuperGroup’s sales rose 1.2pc rise in sales for the 11 weeks to January 9 and said it had ‘established momentum in ecommerce.’ Shares fell 24p to 1555p.
Mother and baby accessories chain Mothercare said total group sales in the 13 weeks to January 9 fell 5.4pc. Its shares closed 4.5p down at 219.5p.