According to the Japan Chain Stores Association (58 firms, 10,447 stores), same-store sales of apparel in 2018 decreased by 5.3% compared to the previous year to 1,009,400 million yen, thus decreasing for 27 consecutive years.
Total sales decreased by 0.2% to 12,988,305 million yen, and decreased for the third straight year.
Unfavorable weather had a greater effect on apparel sales than in 2017. The decrease was greater than the 2.3% decline in 2017, and even in every quarter of the year, sales decreased for all apparel items with the exception of the 0.4% increase for other garments during January-March 2018.
Sales of household items also decreased due to unfavorable weather, but sales of furniture and interior goods including bedding, rugs and carpets as well as curtains increased by 1.7%.
Apparel sales in December 2018 decreased by 4.7% compared to the same month of the previous year to 96,933 million yen, as the temperature was higher during the first half of the month. Sales of household goods increased by 1.0% to 261,958 million yen, of which furniture and interior goods were up 3.8%. Total sales decreased by 0.7% to 1,294,133 million yen.