Eurozone clothing and footwear sales fall again - sportstextiles: Lea SportsTextiles

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Eurozone clothing and footwear sales fall again

29/02/2008
The mid-month Bloomberg Eurozone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.4 in February compared with 48.1 in January, the sharpest rate of growth since April 2007. While month-on-month food and drink sales increased for the first time since September, sales in clothing and footwear, pharmaceuticals, autos and fuel, and household goods declined.

French sales registered the largest monthly rise since June 2006, from 56.2 to 58.8, the second strong rise in two months. German retail sales rose for the first time in five months, with the index reaching 52.1 compared with 44.2. Meanwhile, Italian retail sales fell for the twelfth consecutive month, although the index rose from January's record low of 43.0 to 43.8.

Clothing and footwear sales saw the steepest decline across the three countries, with sales falling at a much faster rate than in January.

Despite rising on both an annual and monthly basis, February's sales again fell well below retailers' original targets. The index of actual sales relative to targeted sales declined from 42.1 to 41.2. By far the steepest shortfall in sales was seen for clothing and footwear.

Looking ahead, retailers expect targets to be beaten in March, and confidence with regard to the coming month was the highest since last May. Sales are expected to beat targets across all product sectors, with food and drink sales set to exceed targets to the greatest extent, followed by clothing and footwear.




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