Cary Allington of ActionWatch sent me some interesting information detailing the hit to apparel margins at core stores in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period last year. He also provided some historical data for context.
The ActionWatch retail panel collects sales data at 200 core stores. The same-store sales panel includes 100 of those stores that have been in the panel for a year and thus can provide year-over-year comparison data.
Here’s Cary’s report on margins using data from the same-store sales panel:
“The graph shows the absolute value change in retailer margins for apparel by gender for each of the quarters of 2008 compared to the same quarters of 2007. The first and third quarters show that retailers’ margins were essentially the same in those quarters as in those quarters a year prior. Indeed, the male apparel margins were basically the same until the fourth quarter when retailers discounted more than in the prior year and took 1.8 points off their margins.
“Female apparel margins interestingly had a bump up in the second quarter, but retailers applied some really heavy discounting in the fourth quarter resulting in a margin that was 3.4 points lower than in the fourth quarter of 2007.
“Some apparel classes performed worse than others. For example, retailers were earning lower margins on fleece all year. However, retailers were taking the margin hits particularly hard in the fourth quarter in most product classes.”
