Next warns of potential 40% drop in sales

LONDON – UK fashion retailer Next has warned that full-price sales in-store and online could drop by up to 40 per cent on an annual basis due to the coronavirus pandemic. In a sombre trading update, the business said it was “hard to think of a time when sales and profit had been more difficult to predict.”

The company told investors that in the three days before non-essential shops closed, in-store sales fell by 86 per cent. “In reality, the majority of our customers had decided to stop shopping in retail stores before the order came to close them.”