Uniqlo Japan's monthly sales struggle again as cold weather dents spring season sales

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 2, 2022

It was another weak month for Uniqlo in Japan during February as the Fast Retailing-owned chain on Wednesday reported same-store sales down by as much as 14%.

Total sales were down by a slightly better (but still worrying) 11.4%. The figures included both store and online sales.

And the reason for the fall? No prizes for guessing that it was the wrong kind of weather. Month after month, Uniqlo details how its sales are either boosted by or dented by the weather deciding to play ball or not. The basics and practical pieces that make up the bulk of its offer — such as T-shirts and warm outerwear — are very susceptible to weather conditions.

In February, the problem was that sales of its newly launched Spring ranges “struggled in the face of persistently cold weather throughout the month”.

In previous months this winter, the company has suffered from the weather not being cold enough for its seasonal offer.

And while average purchases per customer were running above the figure for the year to date in February, customer numbers were below the year’s average so even high-spending customers couldn’t make up the shortfall.