Abercrombie & Fitch Earnings Preview: Weak Demand And Traffic Decline Will Suppress Growth

Abercrombie's sales were going weak in August and sales trends worsened in the subsequent months, despite the marginal improvement in the U.S. macro-economic environment. Apart from weak traffic in Europe, poor demand for logo products also had a severe impact on the retailer's sales. It ushered heavy markdowns to compensate for low traffic and weak demand, that weighed on its gross margins during the third quarter.