The positive outcome of September is largely influenced by the result of the jewelry segment. For accessible premium clothing brands, there are some signs of reversing the downward trend of recent months.
Sales of VRG S.A. reached a value of 93.6 million PLN in September 2023, 2% less than in the same period a year earlier. Accumulatively, for the first nine months of this year, sales of VRG amounted to 899.2 million PLN (0.6% less year on year).
VRG’s Jewelry segment recorded a 15.7% increase in September, posting revenues of 53.4 million PLN. The clothing segment of the Group achieved sales equal to 40.1 million PLN, 18.5% less than last year. Online channels accounted for 10.3% of sales in September (compared to 11.8% a year earlier).
– In September, we observed the first signs of a rebound in demand in the clothing segment and a slowdown in sales declines that we experienced during the summer months. However, this was insufficient to avoid year-on-year sales declines. Not insignificant were high temperatures in the first month of the new season, which discouraged updating the wardrobe. In addition, demand for clothing brands from our middle segment (so-called accessible premium) remained under continued pressure from the unstable macroeconomic situation – says Janusz Płocica, President of VRG.
The Group managed to slightly improve the sales margin (amounting to 54.8% in September compared to 54.7% in the same period a year earlier). After the first nine months of this year, the Group’s margin amounted to 54.1% (0.9 percentage points more year-on-year).
The VRG President emphasizes that, in terms of offer, the Group is well prepared for the upcoming season months. In mid-September, W.KRUK debuted a new ambassador collection by Martyna Wojciechowska. At the end of the month, an advertising campaign for Vistula started, featuring Rafał Rulski and Rafał Jonkisz – ambassadors of the latest DISCOVER YOURSELF collection. The worrying factor remains the weather, which does not encourage the purchase of autumn and winter collections, already available in stores.
In September 2023, VRG group brands operated on 52.6 thousand m2 of retail space ( 1% more than a year earlier).
