The Christmas trading period was a mixed bag for retailers, with some recording sales rises and others falling below expectations.
ShopperTrak general manager for Australia and South East Asia Adam Ioakim said that this could attributed to the rising popularity of new sale periods in the lead up to Christmas.
“Christmas was particularly poor and we attribute this down to the rise of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Click Frenzy in Australia, all of which took place in November.
“My view is that a proportion of Christmas shopping took place during these events and therefore detracted from traffic to discretionary spend retailers in the lead up to Christmas.”
Here is a wrap up of what went down over the season.
The department stores
It was a tough slog for the department store sector over Christmas, with even golden child Kmart seeing a slowdown after a stellar five year run.
In a post-Christmas trading announcement, it revealed total sales rose just 1% in the first half of fiscal 2019, while comparable sales dropped 0.6%. This was at odds with a bumper sales run under the tenure of former CEO Guy Russo.
Premium department store David Jones also saw just a 1% increase in sales during the 26 weeks to December 23, 2018. Comparable sales rose by just 0.9%, with the department store noting weakening sales were in line with the rest of the retail market leading up to Christmas.
In good news for Target, which is in a turnaround phase led by a fashion department overhaul, total sales increased by 0.2% and comparable sales increased by 0.5%. The moderate gains are a departure from a loss making performance streak.
The middle market retailers
Country Road Group sales increased by 2.3 per cent for the 26 weeks leading up to December 23, compared to the same period last year. The Christmas winner also saw online sales shoot up by 20%, representing 17.7% of total sales.
Noni B upgraded its half-year profit guidance after seeing better than expected Christmas sales. The group owns the Millers, Katies, Rivers, Crossroads, Autograph, Rockmans and W.Lane brands. It reported like-for-like sales growth of 1% in December. This was after expecting a fall in sales over the period.
Kathmandu was the biggest shock for the season, with less than expected sales over the festive season. After a weak December sales period, the adventure retailer said it would see its half-year sales slip by 0.2%, damaging the 7.1% growth seen right up to early November.
The accessories and footwear chains
Freshly appointed Michael Hill CEO Daniel Bracken said a "refined" approach to event and promotional activities resulted in a lift in sales during its two busiest months. The jewelery retailer posted a 2.9% increase in total sales and 1.3% rise in same store sales for the combined November and December period. Its private collection rose by a whopping 11% to a 20% share of total product sales.
UK-based JD Sports, which has 15 stores across Australia since launching two years ago, reported 15% total sales growth for the 48 week period to January 5, 2019. It tracked more than 5% like-for-like sales growth over the same period.
Vans parent company VF Corporation registed a peak of 18% in revenue sales growth for the Asia Pacific. In that region, the group underlined the evolution of its business in China, where the increment was of 25%.
The designer internationals
US jewellery retailer Tiffany & Co lost some sparkle over the holiday trading season, with total net sales across the Asia Pacific falling 3% prior to the last period. Comparable sales in the region fell 4% for the two months to December 31, 2018. While it saw strong sales gains in the China market over the holidays, this wasn't enough to stem the fall.
On the other hand, Hugo Boss clocked the Asia Pacific as its fastest growing region for holiday sales, with China leading the charge. The German premium apparel company said total global fourth-quarter sales came to 783 million euros ($1.2 billion), up from EUR735 million in the same period a year earlier. Comparable store sales were up 4% compared to the previous corresponding period and online sales were up 37%.