Kappahl sales improve 6.3% in Q2FY19

"Childrenswear sales have continued to grow and Newbie continues to be strong. Womenswear has successively improved during the quarter and we see that Menswear has a more integrated and attractive offer today than a year ago. Our e-commerce sales increased in the first quarter by 14 per cent and made up over five per cent of Kappahl’s total sales. More than half of e-commerce was supplied via Click&Collect, which also contributed to extra sales in stores," said Peter Andersson, chief financial officer and acting president/CEO.

In the first half of 2019, net sales were SEK 2,379 million for the half year. This is an increase of 4.3 per cent compared with the previous year. This is due to change in comparable stores of 0.5 per cent, new and closed stores, 1.6 per cent; and currency translation differences totaling 2.2 per cent.

At the close of the second quarter, the total number of stores was 380, of which 27 Newbie Store. Of the total number of stores there were 182 in Sweden, 101 in Norway, 61 in Finland, 29 in Poland and 7 in the United Kingdom.

"KappAhl’s sales in the second quarter increased by 6.3 per cent compared with the previous year. We are taking market share in all markets and seeing how the changes in the supply chain and offer that we carried out started to have an effect. Sales for the quarter were marked by a more balanced offer in which both the Christmas trade and subsequent clearance sales had a good structure. Continued negative impact of tough competitive pressure, Christmas trade that got under way later due to Black Friday and the ever-earlier clearance sale start meant a period of discounted sales that was somewhat more extensive than previous years. Full-price sales at the start of the season were satisfactory, very much thanks to well-filled stores and a broader range," Andersson said.

KappAhl is also focusing to invest in strengthening the customer experience, in store and online, and to create an even more relevant and attractive offer for our customers. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India