Macy’s, Jcpenney and abercrombie & fitch are continuing to close brick-and- mortar stores, hoping to appease shareholders by running more profitable businesses in the era of digital shopping. store closure announcements for this year have been staggering, some five years after the great Recession pushed major retailers to shutter hundreds of locations. the old guard of apparel retailers in the nation’s malls is disappearing. in their place come fast-fashion companies selling cheaply made goods at unbeatable prices. by early spring, 14 Macy’s locations were shut down while Jcpenney expects to close 40 stores by the end of 2015. beleaguered teen apparel retailer aeropostale will vacate close to 75 stores, and at troubled competitor abercrombie & fitch, the total will be about 60. for its part, gap continues to prune its us store base, mostly closing outlets of its namesake brand, but also certain banana Republic sites. the company has not outlined specific store closure numbers for this year.
Since, the minimum wages have gone up in bangladesh and stringent compliance norms introduced by the accord and the alliance in the country, majority of the garment manufacturers share with Apparel Online that their cM costs have shot up by 70% but the buyers are not increasing their fob rates. now since these three major buyers are going to witness more profitable business through digital shopping, they should share their profits with their suppliers.
