Strong Sales Ease Christmas Blues

Booming January sales are bringing relief to fashion retailers after a poor Christmas, with markdowns being kept in check. Changing shopping patterns are being blamed for the difficulties in December, with retailers suffering as shoppers waited for bargains.

As a result, retailers have missed out on full-price sales but cleared stock quickly without having to increase their markdowns against last year.

According to research commissioned exclusively from agency Retailmap, the depth of womenswear discounting is slightly less than last year, while menswear discounting remains the same.