MAJOR US retailers' November sales were mostly up with a substantial minority under performing with low-end items doing consistently better than luxury goods, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Wal-Mart", the biggest retailer already announced in May that it would no longer publish monthly sales figures, so its results are not included in the survey.
"Abercrombie & Fitch Apparel" fell 17 per cent in same store sales while chain-wide its sales fell eight per cent to US$245.7 million. Year-to-date, the company's sales are off 19 per cent compared to last year's, as the retailer continued to struggle in the downturn. Its "Hollister" brand was hardest hit in November with a 23 per cent drop.
"Aeropostale Apparel's" same-store sales were up seven per cent year on year, but rose 14 per cent overall to $228 million. The company continued to buck the weakness in the retail sector with same-store sales up 19 per cent year to date and recently posted a 47 per cent surge in third-quarter profits.
"BJ's Discount" posted a one per cent same store sales increase year on year and a 6.4 per cent increase year to date to $833.6 million. Comparable sales increased in the metropolitan New York, New England and in the south eastern US but decreased slightly in the mid-Atlantic and Upstate New York.
BJ departments with strong comparable club sales increases included fresh bakery, breakfast foods, cigarettes, computers, frozen, health and beauty, household chemicals, house wares, juices, paper, produce and residential furniture.
Weaker departments versus last year included apparel, dairy, fresh meat, oils and shortening, sporting goods, garbage bags, television sets and video games. (Same-store sales excludes petrol.)
"Buckle Apparel" recorded a same store sales increase of 1.4 per cent year on year while chain-wide sales rose 6.9 per cent to $77.2 million. The teenage apparel retailer posted positive comparable store sales for 38 months - more than three years.
Buckle's Costco Discount posted no change in its same store category, but rose nine per cent overall to $6.04 billion The warehouse chain said the Midwest, southeast, Texas and northern California were the strongest US performers. Non-food improvement went into November, but deflationary pressures were still seen in food and sundry prices. (Same-store sales are US-only and exclude petrol.)
"Gap Apparel" same store sales recorded no change, but were up two per cent chain-wide to $1.4 billion year to date. The company's low-end chain was the only unit to post an increase. The discount Old Navy stores posted a six per cent increase in sales, while Banana Republic was down four per cent. The flagship Gap stores posted a four per cent drop in same-store sales.
"Hot Topic Apparel" was down 11.7 per cent in same store sales while falling 9.6 per cent chain-wide to $55.3 million. The company continued to struggle despite resurgence in gear from the teenage vampire movie "Twilight," which was boosted by the release of a new movie.
"JC Penney Department" was down 5.9 per cent on a same-store basis and fell 5.2 per cent throughout the company to $1.7 billion. Strong sales for the Black Friday weekend slightly offset weaker sales beginning mid-month and leading up to Thanksgiving.
Women's apparel, accessories and shoes were the top performing items while children's sales slumped. The US southwest was its best performer in November, while the southeast did the worst.
"Kohl's Discount" was up 3.3 per cent on a same store level and enjoyed a 7.1 per cent increase chain-wide to $1.8 billion. Its role as a discounter is attracting budget consumers. The southwest region reported the strongest increase in same-store sales for the ninth consecutive month. The home category reported the strongest sales increase.
"Limited Brands Apparel" was up three per cent on a same store basis and up 3.4 per cent chain-wide to $781.1 million. The parent of Victoria's Secret said positive sales results were surprising.
"Macy's Department" was down 6.1 per cent on a same store level and also fell 6.3 per cent chain-wide to $2.177 billion. The company expects December comparisons to be stronger due to the movement of a key sale into the month, pushing consumers to postpone sales.
Online sales remained strong, up 23 per cent in November, even as total sales for the year were down 7.8 per cent. "Neiman Marcus Luxury" was down 7.5 per cent on a same store level and 5.9 per cent off chain-wide sales to $305 million.
Neiman Marcus continued to struggle amid broader difficulties in the luxury sector. Categories that performed best were women's contemporary sportswear, beauty and jewellery.
"Nordstrom Luxury" was up 2.2 per cent on a same store basis and also rose 5.9 per cent chain-wide to $749 million. The company managed to buck the declines of other luxury retailers, but their discount rack stores fared better than the full-line operations, which continued to post sales declines.
"Ross Stores Apparel" was up eight per cent on a same store basis and rose 12 per cent chain-wide to $635 million. The discount apparel retailer continued to benefit from shoppers looking for bargains. The home department, selling dresses and shoes were the strongest while the southwest and northwest regions performed the best for the company.
"Saks Luxury" fell 26 per cent on a same store basis and was down 25 per cent chain-wide to $245.1 million. The luxury retailer showed a massive decline following a small turnaround in October when it reported year-on-year gains.
The Saks Fifth Avenue stores experienced continued weakness during the month in nearly all categories.
"Target Department" fell 1.5 per cent on both a same store and chain-wide levels to $5.68 billion with results worse than expected because of a weakness early in November. The company said sales were stronger on Black Friday and Saturday, with particular strength in electronics, toys, apparel, domestics, small appliances and beauty.
"TJX Discount" was eight per cent up on a same-store level and rose 15 per cent chain-wide to $1.8 billion. The TJ Maxx and Marshalls parent continued to see strong traffic, and was hopeful for the holiday season after positive indications in the days following Thanksgiving.
"Zumiez Apparel" was down 15 per cent on a same store level and off 1.8 per cent chain-wide to $32 million. The youth retailer continued to struggle even as comparisons to a year earlier period become less severe.
Source : HKSG, 14.12.09.
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