Gap sales down 12% |
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| Friday, 09 January 2009 | |
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Gap Inc this week reported a 12% drop in sales to $1.93 billion from $2.2bn for the five-week period ended January 3, 2009. The company's comparable store
sales for December 2008 were down 14 percent compared with a 6 percent decrease in December 2007.
Comparable store sales by division for December 2008 for Gap North America was negative 12 percent versus negative 9 percent last year. UK and International sales were negative 5 percent versus negative 1 percent last year . "December was challenging, as customers waited until late in the month to shop and we faced a highly competitive promotional environment," said Sabrina Simmons, chief financial officer of Gap Inc. "We responded aggressively across our brands with compelling offers, which helped us clear through a significant amount of holiday inventory, but resulted in merchandise margins below last year." Year-to-date net sales were $13.77 billion for the 48 weeks ended January 3, 2009, a decrease of 7 percent compared with net sales of $14.83 billion for the 48 weeks ended January 5, 2008. The company will report January sales on February 5, 2009.
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