The news around Quiz Clothing has been almost universally bleak in the last few years. But on Tuesday the womenswear retailer had some much better news.
Quiz
The company has introduced wide-ranging changes of late, including adding more casualwear rather than just selling the occasion pieces for which it’s known. And the Scotland-based group said it saw an average 14% uplift in like-for-like store sales during July and August. In the same period, online sales also grew 5% like-for-like.
This follows a “wide-reaching operational streamlining strategy” introduced in February. As part of this the company has made “significant” investments in product design, buying and merchandising with the business “recruiting new talent, introducing fresh product categories and adding supply partners from closer-to-home territories”.
Admittedly, it’s not exactly a full year’s results, but it certainly shows the firm’s decline being arrested and even a nascent reversal.
CEO Sheraz Ramzan said he was “encouraged to see the results of our restructure reflected by this uplift in sales. While the Quiz DNA remains rooted in occasionwear, we have seen an exceptional reaction to our renewed focus on casualwear, coordinated separates and transitional ranges.”
Its design, buying and merchandising investments mean it has offered more pieces “designed to coordinate seamlessly and transition smoothly from day to evening”. And its coordinated separates, contemporary tailoring and day-to-evening dresses have been “bestsellers this summer. Attention to fits, new silhouettes, extended sizing options and improved fabrications have been welcomed by [our] fashion-forward female consumer”.
It has also improved some of the more practical elements of its offer, such as launching same day Click & Collect across its UK stores earlier this year as well as online fulfilment from in-store, launching this season.
