Listed retailers Next, Primark and M&S fared better as the decline in UK apparel sales eased slightly as autumn moved into winter, according to the latest Kantar data, with weak sales volumes reflecting or offset by higher prices.
Total sales were down 1.0% in the 12 weeks to 9 November, which was an improvement on the prior period’s 1.9% decline.
Clothing sales volumes fell 3.8%, while average selling prices rose 2.9%.
The full-price mix decreased 0.7 percentage points to 66.5%.
Online sales grew 0.9% over the period. Offline sales fell 2.4%.
Analysts at UBS said forthcoming releases would need to be assessed to determine if this was a case of consumers holding back spending ahead of Black Friday and Christmas.
Among listed names, the data showed sequential improvement at Next PLC (LSE:NXT), Primark (owned by Associated British Foods PLC (LSE:ABF) and Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS).
Next recorded 1.7% sales growth and a full-price improvement of 1.2%, with market share rising to 9.5%. Primark posted 2.6% sales growth and gained 25 basis points of market share to 7.1%.
Marks & Spencer recorded a 3.4% decline in total sales, an improvement from the prior 7.4% fall. Online sales were down 1.1%, recovering from earlier cyber disruption, while offline sales fell 4.5%.
At Superdry, Kantar reported sales down 15.1%, compared with a 17.1% fall in the previous period. Full-price sales declined 12.7%.