F&F fashion line outperforms at Tesco over Christmas

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 12, 2017

Supermarket results stories aren’t always the most interesting news for the fashion sector but at the moment, with clothing helping to drive their sales, they take on a new importance.

On Wednesday Sainsbury’s hailed its Tu Clothing success and on Thursday it was Tesco’s turn.

The UK’s biggest supermarket, and one of the world’s biggest retailers, said that it had a good autumn season and Christmas and its F&F fashion line was a big help.

First the numbers: in Q3, the 13 weeks to November 26, group like-for-like sales rose 1.5%, UK like-for-like sales sales rose 1.8%, while international like-for-were up 0.6%, building on last year's strong performance and reflecting a more competitive environment in Poland.

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In the seven weeks to January 7, group like-for-likes were up 0.3% and the UK up 0.7% and during that period, the retailer said it saw a strong performance in clothing and toys, with sales up 4.3% and 8.5% respectively.

F&F clothing “outperformed the market” with impressive 4% like-for-like sales growth over the Christmas period.  Within this, seasonal clothing was particularly popular with sales up over 40% year-on-year.  

Supermarkets are increasingly relying on general merchandise categories, including clothing, to drive growth in a market where their foods ops are hampered by price pressures.