October showed a small increase in revenue compared with September. A driving force in this was the sale of outerwear, which rose by over 30 percent. However, there is a trend toward weaker sales in other product groups, which decreased by around 4 percent. Those successful in the ten-on-top lists are brands which have focused on outerwear.
Purply Retail's index for October shows that revenue is increasing by 3,0 percent in total. Revenue for womenswear in nearly identical compared to September while menswear increases by about six percent. We calculate this on a period of five weeks in order to account for the effect of extra weekends.
Falling development for womenswear
If we look at tendencies during the past month, we can see that the sales of womenswear reached its peak in the shift between September/October, with many good weeks apart from salary week. Afterwards, the trend is weak with a decrease from the first until the last week of October of about 12,1 percent. On the men's side, sales have been stable for the entire period. Sales for both women's and men's clothing are strongly driven by outerwear (comprised of the product groups "Jacket" and "Coat"). The increase in these product groups is greater than 30 percent. If one considers the sale of outerwear as a type of required or needs-driven purchase, it can be perceived as a tendency for the rest of the range to sell significantly less than during the previous period. The decline is recorded at just above four percent for the period.
Sales campaigns lowered margins
The contribution margin on both the women's and the men's side has stayed between 53 and 54 percent with a clear decline during salary week, when margins well just below the 50 percent line. This naturally indicates that the weekend contained its fair share of sales campaigns. If we look at the sell-through rate more closely, we can see that it increased from 31 ot 39 perent on for womenswear and from 28 to 35 for menswear. It is therefore clear that so far, the sell-through rate is clearly higher on the women's side. The total sell-through rate reaches up to 37 percent.
If we focus on the development of the sell-through rate, we can see it in the graph to the right. Sales sped up at the start of the month and the sell-through rate rose from 25 percent week 39 to 41 percent week 44. This means that outerwear has sold through better than the average rate of other goods in the store.
The top lists
Many people are interested in the top lists for the period. This month it is unsurprising that brands with a focus on outerwear have been extra successful.
The biggest brands for women:
1. Rock and Blue
2. Juicy Couture
3. Twist and Tango
4. Filippa K
5. Gant
6. Rodebjer
7. Samsö Samsö
8. Tiger of Sweden
9. Ralph Lauren
10. Malene Birger
The biggest brands for men:
1. Gant
2. Hugo Boss
3. Morris
4. Ralph Lauren
5. Parajumpers
6. Hansen and Jacob
7. Sail Racing
8. Replay
9. J.Lindeberg
10. Stenströms
An uncertain future
In the media we can read about analyses which predict Christmas sales where for example HUI believe in a small increase driven by inflation. The fact there are clouds of worry that affect both the world and consumers wallets is inescapable. How this in turn affects the fashion industry during the coming weeks before Black Friday is of course uncertain. Historically, the coming weeks are very weak. We here at Purply have a unique opportunity to follow this week by week. We will be able to deliver the latest insights for all those connected to the index. Next week, we will look more closely at whether or not the trend towards weaker sales and non needs-driven sales will continue during Octobers first two weeks. Then, we will at least get an indication of how the coming period is going to turn out.
The team at Purply Retail