As Next announces tough Christmas sales, will other retailers follow?

As retailers begin to post their Christmas sales, a picture of a tough holiday season has begun to emerge, as Next's figures showed it struggled in the 60 days trading to December 24.

Phrases such as ‘unseasonably warm weather’ and 'lacklustre sales' will become familiar lines over the coming weeks on both sides of the Atlantic as Next saw its share price fall 3.3 percent in early morning trade.

"We believe the market will take today's statement as possibly an early indicator that trading for apparel retailers was challenging in the final quarter of 2015," said Shore Capital in a note Tuesday morning.

Next was the first big gun out of the starting block posting a 0.5 percent fall in store sales and sharp slowdown in its Directory online and catalogue business, up just 2 percent, but its trading woes were compounded by poor stock availability from October and tougher online competition.

Anusha Couttigane, Senior Consultant at Conlumino stated: "Over the last few years, we have become accustomed to hearing Next heralded for its enviable sales performance, so growth of less than 1.0 percent is unsettling. While weather woes were experienced across the fashion sector, delaying uptake of winter coats and warmer layers, Next also admitted that poor stock availability intensified the issue, resulting in a failure to meet demand for its most popular lines. This is a problem it has tried to rectify over the last two years by taking more risks and buying closer to the season, however it clearly requires further investment."

Image:Next