Clothing The performance of our clothing ranges has been encouraging. Last year manufacturing capacity constraints in the Far East extended lead times and delayed deliveries. As a result stock availability hindered sales throughout 2010. In response we changed our buying process, placing larger orders earlier in the buying cycle. In particular we focused on placing deeper buys and additional colours on best-selling lines. This approach has improved stock availability and helped us negotiate prices, mitigating some of the effect of underlying cost price rises.
Whilst stock levels have been higher throughout the season, our stock for the end of season Sale rose in line with sales, up 6.6% against VAT inclusive sales up 5.1%. Sell through rates were ahead of last year and stock left over for our Clearance stores was in line with last year.
On the downside earlier buying has limited our ability to react in season, and we have consciously taken the necessary decision to take bigger risks in backing new trends. It has been one of those occasions where the organisation can either risk success or guarantee failure: so far the riskier, less flexible approach has been successful.
NEXT RETAIL Retail Sales Retail sales were in line with our internal budgets, finishing -1.8% down on last year. The reported figure is given excluding VAT and as such is a little misleading in the context of consumer spending. The amount customers spent with us was broadly flat at -0.3%.
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.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
