Fashion industry post pandemic #7: 2019 revenue level finally reached again

Would the pandemic and all its misery be partly behind us? For the fashion retailers, at least, it seems to be going well. There is a lot of goodwill from customers to buy and the weather also cooperates. All this creates positive sales for autumn, according to trade association Euretco, which is once again updating Modefabriek about the state of fashion retailers.

First, the good news: the delayed deliveries as discussed in the previous Euretco article started for most retailers from mid-September. The second: encouraged by the seasonal weather, the customers became even more in the mood for new fashion items and managed to find their way to their local fashion retailer. All the efforts of the fashion stores from the past corona year have been able to retain or bind the customer.

Then there are the numbers. Summer sales closed well in September. Most retailers managed to achieve resale between 80 and 85 percent. For liquidity, it turned out to be particularly beneficial that the closing stock at the end of September was on average 25 to 30 percent lower than last year. In addition, on average between 1 and 3 percent points higher margin was realized.

Last autumn, partly due to the persistent beautiful late summer weather, the sale season started later. The early start this year yields a nice increase in turnover up to the end of September (35 percent more in the category women's and men's fashion compared to the same period in 2020). This increase was mainly due to the sale of trousers by fashion retailers.

On the annual total, women's fashion generates an average of 15 percent higher turnover compared to the strongly different year 2020. Looking at this year's sales compared to 2019, women's fashion scored an equal turnover. The last strong turnover weeks ensured that the turnover level of 2019 was finally reached again. The annual total of the men's fashion category this year is on average 10 percent ahead of 2020. Compared to the turnover in 2019, men's fashion unfortunately still leaves 9 percent.

There are still challenges – which will not sound strange to anyone in this industry. Next winter season will have to take into account the higher stocks that have remained from autumn/winter 20220. Many fashion stores are incoperating this stock with the current season, so that at the end of autumn /winter 2021 a healthy (er) stock can be counted again.

In general, we can conclude that society seems to have returned to its 'more normal mode'. The customer clearly feels like buying and the autumn weather and the shorter autumn days have brought the start of the winter season well on track. Let October take its course as far as the autumn weather is concerned, so that this month can also be closed with a nice result.

Written by Marjolein Stormezand in collaboration with Euretco.