Purply's numbers for the entire spring/summer season up until now show that the biggest sales week was the payday week in April, mainly due to the digital channels. There was also a significant difference in the purchasing behaviours of women's and men's clothing, with sell-through clearly being better on the women's side than the men's side.
Purply has started looking into how the spring season has been going up until now. The reason we have chosen to do this now is that we want customers to gain insights from the market, specifically of the period leading up to the summer sales period which started last week.
In this analysis, we have chosen to look at how the revenue has been for the stores, including the digital channels, and what difference the exclusion of those channels make. This can provide an interesting insight into consumer behaviour and help highlight differences in sales channels.
First, let's look at an overview of the total revenue from March 1st. In the graph below, we have included all stores in the index. There are no pure e-commerce stores, but the stores' digital channels are included. These exist as the stores' own e-commerce, through resellers, or any other digital channel.
As can be seen in the legend at the bottom, the bars in the graph represent the median store's revenue week by week. The light blue line represents the gross margin in percentage, and the yellow line represents the sell-through. We can see that the sales pick up significantly in week 17, then fall and recover week by week, reaching revenue levels higher than week 17 during the first week of the sale. Sell-through steadily increases, and it seems like most suppliers have delivered before week 14, which is the first week of April.
In the next graph, we have removed the digital channels. Here, we can see that sales develop somewhat differently. Week 17 is important but not decisive as it does not represent as large an outlier. We also observe a much more stable rate of revenue growth, that increases during the spring and reaches its peak during the first week of June. When the first week of the sale arrives, we actually see a decline in sales for physical stores.
The difference in revenue with and without the digital stores is significant in itself. However, to gain further understanding, we will separate women's and men's revenue in the next part. In the graph below, you can see the revenue on the women's side, including the digital channels.
First and foremost, we can note that the sell-through has reached 55 percent after the first week of the sale. If we take a closer look at revenue development, we observe relatively consistent growth.
Below is the graph where we have removed the digital channels where we immediately see a difference in revenue development. The aforementioned payday week in April is clearly the largest in terms of revenue, and we also see that the weekend in May and the week of the sale stand out as good periods.
Some insights after observing both graphs are that a significant amount of goods are sold in-store during payday weeks, while the digital channels even out the sales during the other weeks.
Now, let's focus on men's sales. Below is the graph including the digital channels.
Here, we can see that three weeks stand out as good periods for sales. These are the payday weeks in April and May, and then the start of the sale. The sell-through reaches 46 percent, which is clearly lower than on the women's side.
Below is the graph where we have removed the digital channels. Here, we only see the development in physical stores, and it is much more stable with lesser outliers.
We can note that the digital channels accentuate the revenue on the men's side.
Final insights
• Combining the insights from the deep dives into revenue development for women and men, we can observe completely opposite behaviour among consumers. Men's clothing is purchased in the digital channels when they have money in their accounts or when there are discounted prices. Women's clothing is purchased much more in-store during payday or the sale. However, there is a significantly greater interest in shopping via the digital channels during the other weeks.
• We see that the payday week in April is one of the biggest weeks of spring. Many stores have substantial payments during that period, making it a crucial week for revenue. Therefore, it is extremely important to invest heavily in that week and have supplies ready.
• The sell-through is better on the women's side. This is the second season in a row that Purply has observed this.
Some advice from Purply
• Review men's purchases to achieve higher sell-through.
• Determine your strategy regarding the digital channels when you see the significant differences in shopping patterns between women's and men's clothing. It may be particularly important to consider how to get promote sales of men's clothing earlier, as it can help improve the sell-through.
• Make sure everything is ready for the payday week in April, as it is absolutely crucial for the season.
Best regards,
The team at Purply