Clothes shops- can anyone explain?

[whensmynexthol1day]

Went to next to pick up a few bits for my daughter today. Had a good quick browse around the women's section as I need to buy some summer stuff. But there seemed to be more autumn clothes than summer so I didn't end up buying anything for me.

Made me think- What is it with shops stocking the next season way before it has actually started? Does anyone know the actual commercial reasoning behind doing this? There's nothing worse than needing a new winter coat in feb/mar and realising there aren't any because the shops are stocking summer stuff! I can't believe this is a good way to make money?

Obviously this year is different due to lockdown. I would guess most shops are trying to sell whatever they can.Normally it's annoying as hell though. Some years it's still quite cold in March and April and warm until the end of October so it's annoying if you need clothes to fit the weather and can't find anything.

Yeah this is especially bad when you want to shop for a southern-hemisphere holiday in winter and can't find a bikini anywhere. Never made any sense to me - surely swimming is something people do all year round (in indoor pools).

Some of the summer clothing was out in March - I bought some as I was due to go on holiday mid March. By now the shops would ordinarily having their sales period to shift the summer clothes and make space for the autumn range, so I wouldn't be surprised to find those on offer in store now. Presumably lots of the Summer clothing has been shifted on line.

Presumably lots of the Summer clothing has been shifted on line

I'm not sure about that, a few weeks ago, before the clothes shops opened up, I looked online for some new summer clothing after hearing that there was endless unsold stock and found almost nothing in stock.

I suppose that there could have been lots of things trapped in closed actual shops, but there certainly wasn't much available from online versions of the same shops (M&S, Next etc). I haven't been clothes shopping since the shops reopened, so can't comment as to what is in there right now.

Well, at least now I have got into the habit of buying most things second hand from eBay... all types of clothes, all year round. I tend to buy things I need NOW, not three months hence. Who’s that organised?

When I’m selling, I’ll wait till the beginning of the appropriate season to list things. I’ll get higher bids for fleece lined sheepskin boots in December than in July!

It's always been this way. When my son was at primary school he lost his winter hat in January. I went out shopping to buy him a new one. Winter hats were nowhere to be found. The children's clothes sections were awash with shorts and t-shirts. Assistants looked at me as I was mad when I asked about warm hats. I think I eventually found one on a sale rack. Makes no sense to me at all. I don't think about summer clothes when it's still cold.

And then High Street shops wonder why they're struggling. They're just not catering for what the core shoppers actually want nor when they want it.

This drives me mad. Where I live there is a pretty dramatic difference between summer and winter, much more so than in the UK. It is really irritating to realise you need something for the current season and not be able to get hold of it.

Perhaps we're all supposed to buy everything well in advance?

It drives me mad. I have been unable to get clothes for a hot summer holiday abroad in Aug. But there's plenty of polo neck jumpers and what have you.

I guess they must make more on people buying for the season ahead.

It is so frustrating. I think at the heart of it is that I'm a rubbish shopper. I find online shopping too overwhelming and I'm not really sure what will fit me.

I have spent the last 5 years since having first days hardly buying anything as I have been convinced I am going to lose weight and now I am 2 stone lighter and need a new wardrobe I may have missed the boat!

Had planned a shopping day on Friday, but worried now it will be all sales stuff (even more overwhelming)

I really need a personal shopper....

Not first days! First dc!

the shops seemingly aren't interested in giving people what they want, but are then surprised when sales aren't as good as they hope

This!

@Eddielzzard

If they're planning 2021 Summer and Autumn now, why don't they wait 2 months? Literally TWO months! And then they may actually sell more

It fits around the sale calendar. Summer sale time is June/July for the vast majority of shops. Winter sale similarly is aways at the same time each year. If every shop is in sale but yours, people won't come into your shop - they'll go elsewhere.

Plus, it's about storage space. Our winter stock used to start hitting the shops in July - we simply didn't have the storage space in the stockroom to hold summer sale stock, full-price lines that were continuing through into Autumn/Winter, AND new full-price lines coming in for the new season. If you have it on the shop floor, people might buy it. They won't buy it if it's hidden away upstairs.

@user1497207191

And then High Street shops wonder why they're struggling. They're just not catering for what the core shoppers actually want nor when they want it.

People are buying, it's just their shopping habits have changed. People are buying online because it's easier, they can return stuff either by post or in store in person at their own convenience. Expensive parking costs in town centres don't help either.

Most retailers have seen a huge downturn in high street sales, but an equal (or larger) increase in online sales. The problem with this, is that it means they can't afford to run the bricks and mortar stores and they close. Online-only retail isn't necessarily that easy to run - lots of online-only shops aren't actually making a massive turn-over as they deal with huge volumes of returns each day.

In 2019, ASOS only made 4m profit. Considering how huge their online presence is, and how many staff etc. they must employ, that's not much and it's an 87% drop on the year before. They don't have a high street presence so it can't be blamed on that.

Retail in general is struggling because people are busier and shop online as opposed to in shops. Footfall across the retail sector has dropped massively in comparison to 2-3 years ago.

They could cut the volume of returns if sizing was more consistent.

People shouldn't have to routinely order 2 or even 3 sizes because they have no idea how something will fit without trying it on.

Plus sales would be better if they ordered more of popular sizes. I'm a 14 and am absolutely sick of not being able to find anything unless I get there on the day of release because all the 12, 14 and 16 has sold out and all I can see is 8, 10 and 18+ on the rails.

@BarbaraofSeville

They could cut the volume of returns if sizing was more consistent.

People shouldn't have to routinely order 2 or even 3 sizes because they have no idea how something will fit without trying it on.

Plus sales would be better if they ordered more of popular sizes. I'm a 14 and am absolutely sick of not being able to find anything unless I get there on the day of release because all the 12, 14 and 16 has sold out and all I can see is 8, 10 and 18+ on the rails.

I agree with you about consistent sizing.

However the number of items ordered is a real balance. You don't want loads of stock left over that doesn't sell, but you can't just order, say an extra 100 of a certain item. In the company I worked for, you couldn't order less than 1000 of a certain size. So if you wanted to stock size 22, you needed it to be in a popular enough size, collar and style for you to make a profit on a thousand pieces.

Sizes 10-16 might be the most popular, but there's a balance to be made. It's not worth buying in an extra 1000 pairs of jeans in a size 12 if you're only have enough demand to sell 50-100 of them. Plus, stores want to sell as much of their stock as possible at full-price. They don't want customers to know they're going to have hundreds of pairs of size 12 jeans hitting the sale, because otherwise everyone would wait until the sale! They want to create demand - if you love a certain style of jeans and you know they're popular and often aren't available come sale season, you're far more likely to bite the bullet and pay full-price, which is obviously going to net them more money.

People shouldn't have to routinely order 2 or even 3 sizes because they have no idea how something will fit without trying it on.

Stores aren't even consistent within the same product range. I've just returned a load of M&S clothes because the sizing is all over the place. I even bought my OH two supposedly identical items (same colour, same product code) but when you lay them on eachother, there was a good couple of inches difference in width. They have no quality control at all re sizings.

To be fair the weather has been very mixed recently

I think it’s more that shops have retained their March stock rather than brought in new next season lines

To be fair the weather has been very mixed recently

Has it? In East Anglia it's been warm and sunny pretty much since lockdown started, apart from a couple of cooler weeks.