Half-Yearly Report: Japanese apparel retail sales fall 40% in 2020; monthly rebound can be seen post-pandemic

The third biggest apparel retail market in the world, Japan has witnessed a huge decline in its apparel retail sales in department stores during 2020. The sales have fallen 40 per cent in the first half of 2020 as compared to the same period of 2019.

According to the recent data released by Japan Department Stores Association (JDSA), the decline has been noted both in the first quarter (January-March) of 2020 as well as in the COVID-19 hit quarter April-June. A monthly surge can be seen from mid-May onwards, as the coronavirus state of emergency was lifted in stages in the entire country from 14 May 2020 before being fully ended on 25 May 2020.

As a result, the growth in June ’20 over May ’20 was overwhelming, which signals a significant number of shoppers (if not big) have come out to purchase apparels post-pandemic. The yearly decline shows lingering fears of infections in the country amongst majority of fashion shoppers.

Since schools also opened from the beginning of June ’20, the sales of kidswear can be seen rebounding, but is still far from reaching the levels of previous year. Cumulatively, in the January-June ’20 period, the overall sales (including all three categories) feel drastically down from the same period of 2019.

Key findings in overall apparel sales figures –

Period: January-June ’20 is split into 2 quarters (Q1’ 20 and Q2 ’20) here…

Key findings in product-wise sales figures –

(Conversion Rate: 1 Japanese Yen = 0.0094 US Dollar)