Scentre Group has released its March 2020 quarterly trading update, reporting that total in-store sales in March were down 17.6% over the previous corresponding period.
Over the social isolation period, all 42 Westfield Living Centres remained open and have been trading throughout the quarter with high levels of health and safety practices in place.
Like for like fashion sales in March were down 38.9%, while fashion sales in the three months to March were down 12.9%.
However, before COVID-19 took a toll on retail as a whole, Scentre Group was on a good trajectory with total in-store sales in January and February 2020 up 3.6%.
For the year, total in-store sales were up $656 million or 2.7%.
As restrictions were put in place, Scentre reported a decline in foot traffic, with a significant reduction in March and April to a low of 39% of the previous year’s level.
But, as more retailers begin to reopen - 57% of retailers representing 70% of gross lettable area are open - the business has seen an increase in customer visitation in recent weeks.
The biggest spike in visits came over this last weekend, where Scentre witnessed double the level of visitations from five weekends ago.
Scentre Group CEO Peter Allen said that he was proud the centres have been able to stay open despite the challenging conditions.
"All Westfield Living Centres have remained open throughout the pandemic.
"I am proud of the Group’s focus on the health and wellbeing of our customers, retail partners and employees, whilst maintaining business continuity and economic activity to the extent we possibly can.
"Balancing these priorities remains our objective," he said.
Other noteworthy activities the business undertook in the quarter included; launching Westfield Direct, a drive-through, contactless click and collect service available across all centres; implementing a range of initiatives targeting more than a 25% reduction in centre operating expenses during the pandemic period; and, in April, the Group increased liquidity to $3.1 billion while also reducing the amount of debt maturing through to December 2021 to $1.9 billion (as a result of additional refinancing of bank facilities).
To date, Scentre reports that the Westfield Direct platform has connected customers to more than 500 retailers offering more than 15,000 products from fresh food, everyday essentials and lifestyle categories.
In New Zealand, Scentre's centres remain closed, but the business is ready to move to COVID Level Two when the NZ government announces its timetable.
Source: SCENTRE GROUP MARCH 2020 QUARTERLY OPERATIONAL UPDATE