Sales at stores open at least a year, a measure of retail health known as same-store sales, fell 13percentt, superior to the performance of many retailers in the bleak economy.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Gournay said the overall performance of British retailers had produced a "real cost" to Body Shop sales, adding to problems with inventory.
The company reported a 34percentt drop in sales for March at stores open at least a year, the worst performance of mall retailers that month.
This is considered an important indicator of financial performance for retailers, because it strips away the impact of recently opened or closed locations.
The investor group, which collectively owns 7.9percentt of Charming Shoppes' common stock, has criticized the performance of the retailer's stock performance, which has lost 60percentt of its value over the last year.
Investors have been nervous about the performance of the retailer's Comet business since a profits warning in January, and news last week that the division's managing director Hugh Harvey had left did not help matters.
Together, retention and expansion drive the financial performance of the retailer.
We have a situation where the level of business rates levied on shops is completely decoupled from the commercial realities of rents and the trading performance of the retailer.
The company produced 3.9 million data points on the service performance of these online retailers in 2012 and launched a number of case studies (with 15 additional retailers) that showed a "significant increase in sales" achieved by those companies displaying the StellaService seal, company co-founder and CEO Jordy Leiser said.
Green shoot rating 1 out of 5 Sales of homewares in March have just recorded their first increase - up 5.7% - since last summer and non-fashion retailers also had a good month, up 6.3%, according to the new BDO Stoy Hayward high street sales tracker, which measures the performance of mid-sized retailers and covers about 10,000 outlets in the UK.
