It has been a difficult time for the Australian retail industry and, ultimately, ASX retail shares over the past few months.
The closure of retail stores has hit bricks and mortar retailers hard with store foot traffic coming to an almost grinding halt.
Many people have temporarily lost their jobs due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions. This has dramatically reduced consumer confidence, leading to a further slow in sales.
However, consumers are now beginning to feel a bit more optimistic, as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.
Retail stores are now opening and this has breathed more enthusiasm into the Australian retail industry. This has led to strong recent share price gains for ASX retail giants after many were heavily sold off.
Here are 3 ASX retail shares that have seen strong share price growth over the past two weeks.
Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)
Accent Group is the footwear group behind store brands such as Hype DC and Platypus.
It has an impressive share price rise of 25.5% over the past two weeks.
The Group had previously announced plans to progressively reopen all its stores by early May.
Although it has suffered a significant loss of trade due to store closures during the pandemic, its online sales have surged.
In fact, online sales soared by nearly 350% during the last two weeks of April. Also, during April, stores were progressively opened to enable a click and collect service for customers, further boosting sales.
With lockdown restrictions now easing, and instore foot traffic looking to pick up soon, this could provide a further boost to sales in the months ahead.
I believe that this is a significant reason why investors have been buying Accent Group's retail shares in recent weeks.
Baby Bunting Group Ltd (ASX: BBN)
The Baby Bunting share price has surged around 29.3% over the past two weeks, driven in a large way by a very positive business update on 19 May.
All its stores were able to remain open during the harsh coronavirus pandemic restrictions as its products are seen to provide an essential community service. Therefore, physical store sales were not hit as badly as many of the discretionary retailers.
Like the Accent Group, online sales have been a recent winner for Baby Bunting.
The company revealed that online sales for the period between 30 December 2019 and 17 May 2020, surged by a massive 66%.
Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)
As purely an online retailer, Kogan hasn't had to deal with the issues faced by bricks and mortar retailers during the coronavirus crisis.
In fact, Kogan has seen a recent surge in online sales. Sales grew by more than 100% during the months of April.
Profits were even more impressive during April, with gross profit growing by more than 150%.
Consumers have been gravitating towards the online channel during the lockdown. This trend has helped to drive its retail share price higher over the past few months.
