US Apparel Retailers Report Weak January Comp Sales

(RTTNews) - U.S. apparel retailers on Thursday reported weak January sales as exceptionally bad winter weather kept shoppers at home. Nervous shoppers also held off on discretionary spending fearing higher heating bills after two nasty polar storms.

The month of January is normally the slowest month for retailers following the most important holiday season sales rush. The one week less this year in January also had its impact.

L Brands, Inc. (LB), the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its January comparable store sales increased 9 percent, reflecting strength of its Victoria's Secret Stores as well as Bath & Body Works and La Senza stores. The result significantly topped Street expectations for a 0.5 percent increase. Net sales were $731.2 million, down from $986.4 billion last year.

Department store chain Kohl's Corp. (KSS), which reports only quarterly sales results, reported a 2.0 percent drop in total comparable sales for the fourth quarter. The company also said January sales were significantly lower than planned as a result of lower traffic and low levels of clearance merchandise.

Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT) reported a 0.7 percent drop in comparable store sales for the month of January. Total monthly sales also decreased to $64.4 million from $78.9 million in the prior-year month. The extra week last year generated about $15.8 million of sales.

"Our January sales were clearly impacted by the severe weather throughout most of the country. Factoring this out, our sales results for January were consistent with our performance through year-to-date December," CEO Jay Stein stated.

Another specialty retailer of action sports related apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories Zumiez, Inc. (ZUMZ) reported Wednesday that its comparable store sales for January declined 7.6 percent. Total net sales also declined 24.3 percent from last year to $38.1 million.

Teen apparel retailer Buckle, Inc. (BKE) announced that comparable store net sales for the month of January decreased 6.6 percent. Net sales also declined 27.9 percent to $56.9 million from last year's $78.7 million.

Meanwhile, value-priced fashion apparel retailer Cato Corp. (CATO) reported that January same-store sales decreased 8 percent on a comparable four-week basis. Total sales declined 25 percent from last year to $48.1 million, and dropped only 4 percent on a comparable four-week basis.

"January same-store sales results were significantly impacted by winter storms during the month," commented John Cato, Chairman, President, and CEO of Cato.

Meanwhile, young women's chain Wet Seal, Inc. (WTSL), which reports only quarterly sales results, reported that fourth-quarter comparable store sales decreased 16.5 percent. Quarterly net sales also declined 22.8 percent to $124.8 million from the year-ago quarter.

Sales at established stores or comparable-store sales is a key retail industry performance metric to gauge activity at store locations that have been open for at least a year.

A report released from the Conference Board a week ago showed that U.S. consumer confidence index improved for the second consecutive month in January, with the index rising by more than expected during the month.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 80.7 in January from a downwardly revised 77.5 in December. Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to edge up to 79.0 from the 78.1 originally reported for the previous month.

Looking ahead to February, sales are expected to continue to be soft as the winter storms continue. However, analysts' see consumer confidence to be back on track and rising expectations suggest the economy may pick up some momentum in the months ahead.