Clothes waited for buyers – Newspaper Kommersant No. 26 (7471) of 02/13/2023

From the departure of some foreign clothing brands from the country, which affected the decrease in competition, some local fashion networks still benefit. In January, their turnover increased by an average of 11% due to an increase in the number of customers in stores by 6%. Further dynamics will depend on the level of assortment of stores, which will still have to compete with foreign brands on online platforms, experts say.

At the end of January 2023, the number of customers in clothing, footwear and accessories stores in Russia grew by 6% year-on-year, Focus Technologies calculated. The average check in the segment, according to analysts, increased by 4%, turnover – by 11% year-on-year. For comparison: in 2022, the number of buyers in fashion stores decreased by 9% compared to 2021, according to Focus Technologies.

Dmitry Kostomakhin, director of the CORE.XP retail property management department, says that tenants of shopping centers operating in the inexpensive fashion segment are seeing an increase in the visitor-to-buyer conversion rate by January 2022.

Market participants confirm the positive dynamics. Stockmann CEO Gennady Levkin says that in January, the revenue of his department stores grew by 21%, the number of visitors – by 14%, the average cost per unit of goods sold – by 7% year-on-year. According to Baon President Ilya Yaroshenko, in January 2023, network traffic was in line with last year, and the number of purchases increased by 15%.

Attendance at Concept Group stores (brands Acoola, Concept Club, Infinity Lingerie) began to grow from mid-December and continued throughout January, says a company representative. According to its own data, in January the revenue of Concept Group stores grew by 26% year-on-year. The Snow Queen’s attendance increased by about 10% this month, and its turnover increased by 8-15% at comparable prices year-on-year, the company says.

Tatyana Divina, head of the research and analytics department at the Commonwealth Partnership, notes that the rotation of fashion brands could have influenced the growth in the number of buyers. For several months, the stores of some international brands were closed, and only in the second half of 2022 did the replacement of operators begin, which created pent-up demand, she explains. According to Nikoliers, in 2022, 23 retail chains announced their withdrawal from Russia, and the stores of 22 operators changed their names and owners. Fes Retail opened Re, M, Sin stores instead of Polish LPP (Reserved, Mohito, Sinsay), Sneaker Box sports shoes stores opened instead of Reebok stores, and part of Levi`s facilities resumed work under the JNS sign.

As Ilya Yaroshenko notes, due to the departure of some brands, traffic in shopping centers is distributed to a smaller number of stores, which helped operating outlets maintain sales despite a general decrease in shopping center attendance. Tatyana Divina adds that many of the new brands have come to malls from the online market, and shoppers may come to the store for the first experience, and in the future they will switch to ordering online. According to Gennady Levkin, the decrease in the number of those who left for the long New Year holidays could also affect the January figures. And in the “Snow Queen” they believe that the Russians could strive to buy for future use during the sales period.

Aleksey Vanchugov, managing partner of Vanchugov & Partners, believes that against the backdrop of reduced competition in the fast fashion segment, Russian clothing chains have a chance by the end of the year to “pull over buyers who are accustomed to Western brands, provided that they offer quality products that meet the latest trends , and a wide range. Otherwise, he believes, consumers will switch to intermediary services for ordering goods from abroad and online platforms offering collections of brands that have left Russia.

Alina Savitskaya, Alexandra Mertsalova