Store fashion holds firm as online slump ends seven-week growth run

UK fashion's run of growth came to an end last week, but the fall was concentrated entirely in one channel: in-store sales kept rising, while a sharp online decline dragged the category into the red. Fashion total like-for-like (LFL) sales slipped -0.84%, according to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, against a broadly flat -0.57% base a year earlier — ending seven consecutive weeks of growth.

The store channel remained healthy. Store fashion rose +5.64% against a positive +5.05% base, sustaining the in-store strength that has anchored the category all summer. The category's dip, in other words, was not a store problem.

Online was. Non-store fashion fell -4.37%, its sharpest drop of the run and a fourth consecutive week of decline. The online retreat that began in July has now deepened enough to outweigh continued store growth and pull the whole category negative.

Across the wider high street, total LFL sales rose +3.18%, an eighth straight week of growth from a +4.23% base — though BDO again noted the gain was largely driven by homewares rather than fashion. Total store sales stayed strong at +4.27%, a sixth consecutive week of growth, while total non-store sales rose +4.76%.

Springboard footfall increased +2.1% overall, led by retail parks at +4.1% and shopping centres at +2.7%, with the high street positive at +0.8% — so weaker visitor numbers were not behind the fashion dip.

Cooler, wetter weather hit Scotland and the north-east, while southern England stayed drier in the low-to-mid 20s. With stores still growing and footfall firm, fashion's first fall in two months looks like an online story rather than a broad-based downturn.