One of the largest fast-fashion retailers in the world posted Q3 sales that showed the pandemic’s impact on the business
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) revealed that its
Q3 sales rose 9% to $6.57 billion. Despite the increase, the figures were still
shy of the 11% jump reported during the same period in 2019. According to H&M,
the pandemic’s impact was felt predominantly in Asia. With the continent being
hit badly by the surging Delta variant, the governments had to bring back
restrictions on physical stores. As a result, factories and stores mainly were
shut during May-June and even later.
The Swedish company started the quarter with 180 stores
closed and ended the period with around 100 still shut.
Still, sales in stores and online have started to pick up
and even increase. Excluding Asia and Oceania, sales were back at pre-pandemic
levels.
The numbers come after first-half results for 2021 showed a
rapid re-emergence of fashion sales for the group. Online sales were up 40%,
and a 12% rise in overall sales.
The figures are preliminary, and the final numbers will be
available on September 30.
Source: investing.com
