Cold weather boosts apparel retail sales in South Korea

29 Dec '12

2 min read

Cold weather, which led to an increase in demand for winter clothing, sparked a hike in retail sales for apparels at leading discount chains and department stores in South Korea during last month, according to a Government report.

The demand for winter apparels grew at a year-on-year rate of 7.9 percent during November, while the demand for sports-linked items grew at a rate of 5.1 percent, and that for miscellaneous items by 2.3 percent, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy report stated.

Demand for imported luxury items and youth sporting items surged by 10 percent year-on-year and 17.2 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Sales figures for women’s casuals and men’s apparels soared by 11.1 percent year-on-year and 4.5 percent y-o-y, respectively during the month, while sales of women’s suits surged by 5.7 percent y-o-y.

The improvement in sales was mainly on account of increased demand for winter items like clothing and sports items, stirred by cold weather during November, with average temperature in Seoul keeping at 5.5 degrees Celsius, compared to average temperature of 10.7 degree recorded in November 2011, the report noted.

The increase in sales of winter apparels has led to a reduction in year-on-year contraction in overall sales of three of South Korea’s major discount outlets - Lotte Mart, Homeplus and E-Mart. The contraction reduced to 1.7 percent during November from 6.6 percent in October 2012.

Similarly, the joint sales of three leading departmental outlets – Lotte, Hyundai and Shinsegae – increased 9.1 percent during November. According to the Ministry, it is for the first time that sales have rebounded over the past six months.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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