Next has once again seen growth in online sales offset a decline in its shops, amid what it called “extremely volatile” trade in the third quarter.The fashion retailer’s website sales rose 13.2% in the three months to October, but in-store sales fell 7.7%. Overall, total sales rose 1.3%.This continued the trend from the first six months of 2017 with online sales offsetting a fall in shop purchases.Next’s shares fell by 8% in early trading after the announcement.’Pessimistic’In a statement, Next predicted a fourth quarter fall in sales of 0.3% – the same total figure by which its sales have fallen so far this year.It said its prediction for the rest of the year “may seem pessimistic compared with our performance in the third quarter, particularly as we believe that our product ranges have continued to improve”.But it said the third quarter in 2016 was very weak with a fall of 3.5%, while the Christmas period only fell by 0.4%.So far in 2017, the retailer’s online sales have gone up by 9.4% with purchases in-store falling by 7.7%.The company said that clearance rates in its summer end-of-season sale were lower than last year and that trend had continued into the third quarter.
Source: BBC News