Sales of brand clothes fell by a quarter since February

Recall that against the backdrop of a military special operation, a number of foreign brands announced their withdrawal from the Russian market. Among them are Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, H&M, Reserved, Uniqlo and a number of others.

It is noteworthy that even at the beginning of the year, sales in this segment were growing, Kommersant writes, citing a study by Platforma. During this period, this direction showed an increase of 8%.

Sales growth was also observed in the period from February 21 to March 13. In some foreign networks, sales increased by 14-20%. Experts suggest that this is due to the fact that Russians began to buy clothes of brands they are interested in at a time when stores had already announced their withdrawal from the market, but had not yet closed.

This assumption is confirmed by the fact that during this period the turnover in Russian clothing manufacturers decreased. In the week from March 14 to March 20, it was 15%. However, by the beginning of April, on the contrary, there was an increase in sales in domestic clothing stores. In annual terms, it amounted to 14-28%.

However, the company's analysts believe that it is still too early to talk about a complete switch in demand to domestic producers. Inflation could affect the increase in demand. The Russians, fearing rising prices for clothing, decided to buy it in the near future. After a surge in sales, the market is likely to calm down, experts say. This will be affected, among other things, by a decrease in the real disposable income of Russians.