Next saw full price sales up +1.3 YOY in its third quarter (to 29th October 2017), leaving year-to-date full price sales down -0.3%.
Full price retail sales during the quarter were down -7.7%, while sales from the directory were up +13.2%.
According to the retailer, lower clearance rates from the summer continued to impact sales, both in its mid-season sale and its clearance operation. As a result total sales, including markdown sales, were up +0.8% during the quarter, and down -1.2% in the year to date.
Next states that sales performance has remained “extremely volatile” and highly dependent on the weather.