Discount department stores across Westfield shopping centres have seen an accumulated 2.6 per cent fall in sales in the fourth quarter of FY25.
This is according to a trading update released by Westfield’s parent company, Scentre Group.
The 2.6 per cent fall in fourth quarter spending has managed to drag down full-year spending in discount department stores by 0.3 per cent for the 12 months to June 30, 2025.
Sales across premium department stores are also not faring well, but are improving in the fourth quarter compared to the full year. In the three months to June 30, 2025, standard department store sales were down 1.5 per cent, with full-year sales down 2 per cent.
This comes as fashion and footwear sales remain subdued across Westfield shopping centres, at least compared to other categories. Fashion sales were up 1.3 per cent in the three months to June 2025, which was higher in the six months to June 30 at 1.5 per cent, and lower for the full year, up just 0.7 per cent.
Footwear sales are more subdued compared to fashion, with sales at 0.2 per cent for the final quarter and the last half, only nudging up to 0.4 per cent for the full year.
For comparison, jewellery remains one of the stronger categories, with sales up 6.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY25 and up 6.9 per cent for the full year.
Meanwhile, the ‘other’ category, which includes gift, souvenir and discount variety, saw a 19.2 per cent surge in spending for the three months to June 30, and up 14.2 per cent in the full year.
The only other challenged category that recorded negative sales growth was homewares, down 4 per cent in the three months to June and down 3.2 per cent in the full year.
Scentre Group manages 42 Westfield centres across Australia and New Zealand, with its business partners achieving $29.3 billion in annual sales to 30 June 2025 across the Westfield portfolio. This is an increase of $719 million on the same period in 2024.
The big low-price department stores Kmart, Target and Big W are part of publicly listed companies which have yet to share their FY25 results.
In the third quarter of FY25, Big W sales fell by 1.5 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, dipping from just over $1 billion to $986 million.
Woolworths Group CEO Amanda Bardwell told investors that clothing remains a challenge at its subsidiary Big W in the third quarter.
“Clothing remains a challenge with Q3 growth reliant on clearance of Spring/Summer, and a slower start to Autumn/Winter, which has continued into April," Bardwell said. "This has impacted Big W’s profit outlook with the loss before interest and tax for H2 now expected to be approximately $70 million.”
The sales decline at Big W was driven by a 2 per cent decrease in in-store sales, which was offset by a 4.3 per cent increase in online sales.
The Q3 sales slip followed a 0.4 per cent fall in total sales to $2.58 billion for the first half of FY25, with both store sales and online sales down by 0.3 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
Big W is found across 19 Westfield locations Australia-wide.
Kmart and Target’s parent company, Wesfarmers, did not release a third-quarter trading update; however, its first-half report showed comparable store sales increased 1.9 per cent for both its department store brands. Total sales between the two hit $6.1 billion in the first half of FY25.