Like-for-like is a discipline, not a courtesy to the weak room

A three-room chain will often send one file with a total column the owner likes. The total can rise while Didube sits on padded jackets and Saburtalo clears shirts. The average is not a lie. It is a courtesy the weak room did not earn.

In a trading briefing we draw each shop against itself, same week last year, then a second plate that puts the same family next to its sister shop. Buyers argue less about “the chain” and more about the room they can walk to this afternoon.

Apparel shows this faster than grocery because a jacket that fails is still on the rail in March. Grocery hides failure in a skip. Either way, the grouping book must name shops, not only families.

Owners sometimes ask us to drop the weak room from the pack before a partner meeting. We will draw a restricted pack if they insist. We will not relabel Didube as “other.”