The Hong Kong-based fashion retailer La Chapelle witnessed its sales dip by a worrying 21 per cent in Q1 of 2019 to record US $ 352 million.
2018 had seen the retailer shut down as many as 1,877 outlets owing to poor sales and inefficiency. The number of closed stores now stands at 9,540 (till the end of March 2019).
With one of its every five directly operated stores shutting down, the retailer is going through one of its worst phases. The net earnings ascribed to shareholders too fell by 94.4 per cent to clock US $ 1.4 million.
La Chapelle added that the poor Q1 was mainly due to negligible increase in apparel expenditure on a continual basis and also the fast receding confidence of the shoppers.
Reportedly, the sales of apparels, shoes and hats in the mainland China region increased by paltry 3.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), which is actually 5 percentage points less than the growth rate of all consumer goods sales.
Besides, in 2019 the Chinese New Year holidays were 11 days earlier compared to what it was in 2018, which also significantly impacted the sales of winter items in Q1 of 2019.
Also in Q1, the earnings of ladies’ apparel brands like La Chapelle, Puella, 7 Modifier and La Babite saw a y-o-y slump of 26.6 per cent, 29.7 per cent, 22.9 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
