October cold snap boosts US footwear and apparel sales
Discount and moderate-priced stores fared particularly well, with both Wal Mart Stores Inc. and Kohl's Corp posting results that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Mall-based fashion stores also did well – even struggling Gap which posted double digit sales growth.
Analysts are now predicting same-store sales in the region of 3.5% for the full holiday period, with footwear and apparel leading the way on the back of the recent cold snap in the eastern States.
With a war with Iraq now looming, however, analysts are watching to see how consumers will behave in the crucial November and December timeframe, which together account for 23.8 % of merchants' annual sales.
Some of the main retail results posted for October were:
Gap, same-store + 11 %; total sales + 17 %.
Kohl's, same-store sales + 18.3 %; total sales increased 38.4 %.
Limited Inc., same-store sales + 3 %; total sales + 4 %.
Talbots Inc., same-store sales + 1.7 %; total sales increased 4 %.
Target Corp., same-store sales + 1.5 %; total sales were gained 9.8 %.
Wal-Mart, same-store sales + 3.7 %; total sales climbed 11.3 %.
