Apparel Industry Retail Enters Slow Growth

According to the statistics from the China National Business Information Center, the retail sales of the 100 key large retail enterprises in the first three quarters of 2011 increased at a faster rate than the same period of last year, while the retail sales in the fourth quarter increased by 18.33% year-on-year, and the growth rate was significantly lower than the same period of last year. 3.3 percentage points, nearly 10 percentage points lower than the growth rate in the first quarter and second quarter of 2011.

The downward movement of consumer prices and shopping cart policies caused by rising prices are important reasons for the drastic decline in retail sales in the fourth quarter. In 2011, under the pressure of all-round rising prices, clothing prices rose significantly, causing a certain impact on apparel sales. According to data from the China National Business Information Center, in 2011, retail sales and retail sales of 100 key large retail enterprises across the country fell, with retail sales up by 20.39% year-on-year, down 2.19 percentage points from the same period of 2010, and retail sales up 4.88% year-on-year. Compared with the same period last year, it dropped 6.04 percentage points.

This trend continued until 2012. According to statistics released recently by the China National Business Information Center, the retail sales of the 100 key large-scale retail enterprises in the country showed a negative year-on-year growth of -7.99%. Among them, in addition to the Spring Festival and other incomparable factors, this year from January to February this year, the retail sales of 100 key large-scale retail enterprises in China have increased by 6.1% year-on-year, 22.13 percentage points lower than the growth rate in the same period of last year, and it is the lowest level in the past five years.

In February, retail sales of major categories of goods showed negative growth. Retail sales of foodstuffs decreased by 10.30% year-on-year, retail sales of apparel decreased by 8.55%, retail sales of gold, silver and jewelry had a negative growth for the first time since December 2010, the growth rate was -2.00%, and retail sales of household appliances fell by 2.67% year-on-year. From the cumulative growth rate for January-February, the cumulative increase in food retail sales was 13.77%, 22.93 percentage points slower than the same period of last year. The cumulative retail sales grew by 6.10%, 16.77 percentage points lower than the same period of last year; the retail sales of gold and silver jewellery The cumulative increase was 16.25%, which was a 48.60 percentage point lower than that of the same period of last year. The cumulative increase in retail sales of household appliances was 1.11%, which was a 18.01 percentage point slower than the same period of last year.

As the Chinese New Year is ahead of schedule, consumption has been released ahead of schedule on the New Year's Day and the Spring Festival holiday. Consumer demand is relatively low in the first two months of this year. In addition, due to the fact that rain and snow in the south are not suitable for shopping, many businesses report a significant decrease in passenger traffic in February; at the same time, price increases further slowed in February, and the year-on-year increase in CPI slowed by 1.7 percentage points from the same period last year. The growth rate of retail sales slowed for two consecutive months, making cumulative retail sales in January-February increase only 8.73% year-on-year, a slowdown of 20.26 percentage points from the same period last year.

"Compared with the same period of last year, most of the growth in apparel sales has indeed slowed down," said industry experts. In January-February 2012, the cumulative volume of all types of apparel retail sales in the country’s 100 key large-scale retail enterprises decreased by 4.23% year-on-year. Among them, men's suits, leather garments, and women's clothing retailed relatively well, with year-on-year increases of 7.18%, 4.59%, and 4.29%, respectively; knitted underwear, winter clothes, and denim clothing retail sales declined, down 14.50% and 9.11% year-on-year respectively. , 8.22%; sportswear and jackets and other apparel retail sales basically the same period last year. Most of the clothing slowed down to some extent from the same period in 2011.