Unseasonably cold weather weights Japanese apparel sales

New York – Unusually long and cold season has dampen down demand for apparel, furniture and other goods in Japan, according to market insiders.

Sources quoted by Bloomberg point out that the unseasonal weather is taking an effect on sales. Case in point, a spokesperson for Shimamura Co., a chain of affordable clothing shops, reported last week that same-store sales through July 20 fell 18 per cent from a year earlier, highlighting that many of their customers will go to their stores cycling instead of driving, so rainy days tend to have an outsized impact on revenue.

So far, Tokyo has seen only about 44 daylight hours in July, among the least since the Japan Meteorological Agency began keeping records in 1890. There was one less Sunday this year compared with July 2018, and rain and overcast skies also appear to be keeping people at home, especially on weekends.

Impact of seasonality widens as climate keeps changing: colder rainy season dampens apparel sales

In the same vein, Michael Allen, an analyst at Jefferies, points out that Japan's retailers, especially Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing Co., are sensitive to seasonal weather trends, so reported weaker monthly sales in the coming week are to be expected.

"All apparel retailers are likely to have suffered," wrote Allen wrote in a report, adding that the average temperature from July 1 to 25 was 22.7 degrees Celsius, compared with 28.3 degrees a year earlier.

Adding to this trend, Right On Co., a Japanese apparel company, reported a 5.9 percent decline in same-store sales through to July 20, pointing to weak demand for summer clothing.

United Arrows, which has more than a dozen fashion brands, might have sidestepped the weather effect, as one-fifth of their sales are online, a spokeswoman said, as reported the ‘Taipei Times’. Some customers buy fashion items earlier for autumn regardless of the temperature, she added.

“While customer traffic at physical stores of apparel companies could be affected by the rainy season in July, shoppers likely switched to buy online,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Catherine Lim said. “The impact to overall sales for larger companies with an established e-commerce platform, such as Fast Retailing, might be less severe,” she concluded.

Image:Uniqlo website, Japan