Japan: Strong market for clothing boosts department store sales

The merger between Daimaru and Matsuzakaya was big news for the retail industry and this was accompanied by an announcement from the Japan Department Store Association (JDSA) declaring an uptrend in sales.
Sources revealed to Fibre2fashion that nationwide department store sales in February were 1.7 percent higher than February 2006, reaching 529.58 billion yen.
This is the second consecutive monthly gain in department store sales after last month reported +0.0 percent. This month nearly 277 shops were taken into considerations which are owned by 95 companies.
Clothing sales, which makes up for the largest chunk of revenue at department stores by sector, were up 0.3 percent, after dropping by 1 percent last month.
The JDSA attributed the rise in revenue to early sales of spring clothes, large corporate orders and effective sales promotion.
However, figures in Tokyo were not very impressive as sales marked a year on year decline for the fifth successive month falling by 0.3 percent to 126.2 billion yen. The results of the city were concluded after surveying 28 shops owned by companies.