Christmas Results For Fashion and Retail Brands
Now that the dust has settled from the busy festive period, it is the perfect time to reflect on the Christmas results reported by major fashion and retail brands across the United Kingdom. Every fashion photography studio in London and the wider UK will want to know just how well many of their potential clients have been doing.
Surprisingly, it isn’t all doom and gloom as some brands have seen strong sales or at least increased sales over the Christmas period and in the months leading up to it. Let’s dive into some of those reports and see how they could possibly affect those working in the fashion photography industry.
ASOS sees a drop in sales in the final months of 2022
Total revenue for the ASOS Group fell to £1.34 billion, with the UK part of the business dropping by 8%. This wasn’t entirely unexpected and relates to challenges from bank holidays around the death of the Queen and also strike disruption. These figures led to a 3% drop in sales for the four months leading up to the 31st of December 2022.
With continued challenges to e-commerce from COVID, it is important to note that ASOS saw an increase in sales in the EU by 6% and a drop of 2% in the US. These fluctuations show just how challenging the environment is for businesses operating across the globe in multiple markets.
Online retailer Very reports positive results in the lead-up to Christmas
At the current moment in time, any kind of positive figure will be celebrated by industry figures and this is encapsulated by the results of the Digital brand Very. The headline figure for the seven weeks prior to Christmas is a 2.2% growth compared to 2021 and 19.6% growth compared to 2019.
The driving forces behind this figure are toys, gifts and beauty, countering the disappointing results for their fashion and sports division. With toys up 26% and beauty up 12.7%, fashion and sports were down 6.6%. The hope for those of us within the fashion photography studio world is that Very sees stronger performances in early 2023 for their fashion and sports divisions.
M&S celebrate a strong performance in the final quarter of 2022
One of the most recognisable high street brands in the UK, Marks & Spencer has faced many challenges in recent years but has reported some positive news for the Christmas period. In the 13 weeks leading up to the end of the year, M&S reported clothing and home sales in stores growing by 8.6%. Add onto this online sales growth thanks to more people using their new mobile app and it appears that M&S is finally starting to become more focused on technology.
This is great news for those working in the fashion and retail world, such as a fashion photography studio. With major retailers like M&S selling more third-party brands and targeting new marketing channels, this opens up new opportunities along the supply chain.
