Global Fashion Retailers Face Pressure On Cost And Demand

The Spanish group, the ubiquitous Zara brand owner, reported that the underlying sales slowed down, and its net profit increased by 42% in the 9 months to the group's expectations.

These high returns mainly benefit from the rapid expansion of the group in the Asian market, and the group will focus on consumers who can afford it.

But in local currency terms, sales increased by 10% from August 1st to December 12th, and some analysts said sales slowed in recent weeks after the opening of new stores.

SG analyst Anne Critchlow said, "we calculate the same store."

Inditex shares surged 45% this year, but fell 2.8% to 60.73 euros at standard time 0850 in Greenwich, one of the biggest European blue chip companies.

Sweden's Hennes&Mauritz company is the second largest clothing retailer in Europe. Although its sales report for the same store grew in November, it was also dragged down.

Britain's SuperGroup is regarded as a clothing house for celebrities such as Beckham. Although profits grew in the first half of the year, it also showed a downward trend. The group warned that increased investment costs could impact next year's profits.

International retailers are increasingly relying on fast-growing emerging markets to drive sales growth, while Europe and the US are recovering from an unbalanced economic recovery.

As China's wages rise, retailers around the world are fighting for increased input costs, and many retailers are buying goods in China.

Clothing retailers are feeling the pressure of soaring cotton prices.

H&M became an exasperated investor. In September, the company reported a third quarter profit decline, while the UK discount chain Primark reported last week that the increase in input costs will affect its profitability.

INDITEX has performed well, benefiting from most of the company's clothing production in the European market, and North Africa's labor costs have greatly exceeded the median level.

The gross profit margin of the company has increased from 57.1% in the same period last year to 59.9%.

Britain's SuperGroup said that rising costs could affect profit margins next year, and the stock has more than doubled since its listing in March.

At 0840 GMT, SuperGroup shares fell 17% to 1350 pence, although the group reported a 69% increase in basic earnings in the first half of the year to 13 million 500 thousand pounds (21 million 400 thousand US dollars), slightly higher than analysts' average forecasts.

H&M has 2200 stores in 38 countries. It is said that same store sales increased by 8% in November, slightly higher than the average forecast value of 7.4% in Reuters survey.