“The toughest I’ve ever seen it”, was how Specialty Fashion Group CEO Gary Perlstein described the state of retail to Inside Retail at the half-year.

He’s now revised that view, but not positively. Last week, Perlstein joined the list of publicly-listed retailers to be burned by the market following full year results, with investors clearly unimpressed over declining comparable sales at staple brands Katies, Millers, Autograph and Crossroads, as well as a cooling off acquisition prospects from Qatar-based firm Al Alifa Group.

Perlstein calls the state-of-play the “new world order” of Australian retail, a reality where traders are stuck between the rock of discounting, and the hard place of protecting margin, often at the expense of sales volume.

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