Apparel Online India Magazine May 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 11

WORLD WRAP
J.Crew sales decreasing 8% and its
comparable sales decreasing 10%
following a decrease of 8% last year,
the J.Crew Group announced in March
that it plans to discontinue with 20
stores in 2018. However, the retailer
says it’s seeing results in its most
important business – women’s apparel,
with Madewell sales rising 23%.
Abercrombie & Fitch hasn’t finished
with shrinking its retail footprint,
though net sales increased 15% for
the last quarter of the financial year
and 5% for the year ending February
2018. The teen apparel company said it
plans to shut down about 60 stores in an overall same-store sales increase of
5% for Gap Inc. In fact, Gap is making
a big bet on Old Navy, its discounted
apparel brand for shoppers who enjoy
browsing off-price retailers like T.J.
Maxx and Ross Stores in search of a
deal. This is in pursuit of the retailer’s
updated growth strategy announced
late last year, which called for roughly
200 Gap and Banana Republic stores
to close by 2020. The move is to shut
stores at old malls that are no longer
exciting customers, and move to
more open-air centres and street-
level retail where the customers are
happier shopping.
the US during the fiscal year as leases
expire and there seems no reason to
renew them. Overall, 2017 was a year
of significant progress for A&F as the
company achieved several important
milestones, including Hollister growing
to US $ 2 billion in sales, Abercrombie
returning to positive comparable sales
for the fourth quarter and record
digital sales across all brands. Winding up cash-draining stores and
tweak assortments is not the real
solution to the downfall of department
stores; a serious evaluation needs to
be made to address the fundamental
reasons why department stores have
been ceding market share to the off-
price, value-oriented, fast-fashion and
more focused specialty players for
more than a decade. Just how much
impact will be felt with the current
flow of store closures is uncertain,
but the impact will definitely be felt.
Also, an incremental improvement in
margin and comparable sales growth
rates, merely a point or a two above
inflation cannot be really defined as
an improvement in the fortunes of
the retailers.
Meanwhile, Gap Inc. plans to shut
200 Gap and Banana Republic
locations over the next three
years, simply because they are all
‘underperforming’. At the same time,
Gap Inc. will open 270 locations for its
growing brands, Old Navy and Athleta.
In the most recent quarter, same-store
sales at Old Navy jumped 9%, driving
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