//The move comes as fashion retailers sit on piles of unsold stock due to supply chain issues and a lack of demand for winter clothing
// M&S is “re-adjusting stock flow” by delaying deliveries of orders
Fashion retailers are sitting on piles of unsold clothing due to a hangover of last year’s supply chain delays, and lacklustre demand for current season stock.
An easing of supply chain disruption has led to a pile up of products in warehouses as lead times from east Asia have shortened.
This means that retailers faced with clearing last year’s delayed stock are receiving new stock quicker than expected.
M&S has asked suppliers to postpone deliveries to its warehouses and has delayed finalising its orders for next year.
An M&S spokeswoman told The Sunday Times that, like other retailers, it was “re-adjusting stock flow” as supply chain disruption eased. It is thought these are industry-wide challenges.
M&S, which posted a 4.2% rise in clothing and home sales in the first four weeks of its second half last month, has also resorted to discounting coats, jackets at boots by 20% in a bid to clear excess stock as milder weather combined with shoppers cutting back has led to slow-moving winter clothing.
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Asos, for example, is sitting on £1.08 billion of unsold stock, up a third on the year before.
Next has returned “a very small” amount of stock to its third party brands although, it told The Sunday Times that its inventory was at planned levels.
Meanwhile, Tesco’s clothing suppliers are preparing for delays after the grocer wrote to them to remind them of its stock holding policies.
Fashion retailers will be hoping that Black Friday, combined with the recent cold spell, has helped clear some inventory.
Sales were up against last year this Black Friday. Barclaycard Payments said that the volume of transactions edged up 3.2% as of 5pm versus last year, while Nationwide said the number of purchases was up 10% across the day.
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