Retailing of clothing, sporting goods and shoes in Germany: General weakness of demand and positive trends for some trading firms

Clothing retailers ended 2004 with another drop in sales, estimated at between 2% and 3%. A weak demand for clothing and especially a fall in average prices lead to this negative sales trend. In shoe retailing, the decline in sales last year was so large that the cyclical trough seems to have been reached. Even retailers of sporting goods, who had bucked the trend in retailing up to 2001, also suffered sales losses. In contrast to this lacklustre performance, some trading firms have been able to improve their market positions, but at the expense of medium-sized businesses.