U.S. Apparel Retailers Report Mixed August Sales

(RTTNews) - A sampling of U.S. apparel retailers on Thursday reported mixed sales at established stores for the pivotal back-to-school shopping month of August.

Consumers tightened their back-to-school budgets for traditional items like clothing while shifting their spending toward big, infrequent purchases such as new vehicles. Mall traffic was not quite as robust this season.

Meanwhile, August sales comparisons were favorably impacted by the shift of sales tax holidays from July to August in eight states.

August is normally a healthy month for U.S. retailers as parents and students line up at stores for back-to-school and even back-to-college shopping, which are a necessity. It is the second-biggest selling period for retailers after the Christmas holiday season.

According to the National Retail Federation's annual survey, total spending on back-to-school and college items is expected shrink to reach $68 billion in 2015. Families will spend on average $630.36 on back-to-school shopping this year, which is a slight drop from last year.

A report released from the Conference Board on August 25 revealed that its consumer confidence index showed a substantial improvement in the month of August, rebounding from the drop seen last month.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped to 101.5 in August from 91.0 in July. The index had been expected to show a more modest increase to a reading of 94.0.

Sales at established stores or comparable-store sales is a key retail industry performance metric to gauge activity at store locations that have been open for at least a year.

L Brands, Inc. (LB), the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its August comparable store sales increased 6 percent, reflecting strength in both its brand stores. Net sales were $826.0 million, up 8 percent from $765.3 million last year.

Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT) reported a 1.4 percent drop in comparable store sales for the month of August. Total monthly sales also edged down 0.4 percent to $86.1 million from $86.5 million in the prior-year month.

Stein Mart noted that August sales were impacted by the move of Labor Day to a week later in September this year and the shifting of events, including the Labor Day event moving from August to September.

Teen apparel retailer Buckle, Inc. (BKE) announced that comparable store net sales for the month of August decreased 3.3 percent. Net sales also declined 2.1 percent to $101.4 million from last year's $103.6 million.

Buckle has begun including online sales in its reported comparable store sales from the February 2015 monthly sales release and for all future periods.

Value-priced fashion apparel retailer Cato Corp. (CATO) reported that August same-store sales grew 4 percent, and total sales also improved 5 percent from last year to $67.0 million.

"August same-store sales were above our expectations and higher than our recent trend. However, due to strong sales in the back half of last year, we remain cautious for the remainder of the year," Chairman, President, and CEO John Cato stated.