Apparel retailers, apparel e-retailers and apparel sites news

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group raises stake in Asos

Bloomberg News — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 18:57:48 +0000

Frasers Group Plc, the retail empire majority owned by tycoon Mike Ashley, has raised its stake in struggling online fashion hub Asos Plc.

Already Asos’s third-largest shareholder, Frasers raised its holding to 8.8% from 7.4%, according to a June 6 filing. The stake has grown from around 5% in October.

Ashley founded Sports Direct four decades ago and built it into Frasers. The billionaire has a track record of taking stakes in failing retailers and growing positions in rivals.

Frasers has purchased stakes in Hugo Boss AG and luxury handbag maker Mulberry as well as buying Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes, video game retailer Game Digital, apparel brand Jack Wills and online brand Missguided.

Asos changing trajectory

Asos has been overhauling its business in a bid to return to profit, reducing inventory and cutting back on excessive discounting.

Last month, it raised £75 million ($93 million) in equity from its two largest shareholders, Danish fashion group Bestseller and U.S. hedge fund Camelot Capital Partners, to support its turnaround plan. The company also refinanced its bank debt with borrowing facilities from specialist lender Bantry Bay Capital, backed by U.S. activist Elliott Investment Management.

Asos received a takeover approach from Turkish online retailer Trendyol in December at a price that would have valued the company’s shares at between £10 and £12 each, according to the Sunday Times. Talks between the companies are no longer active, the newspaper reported.

Asos was for years a stock-market darling amid rising sales and profits. But it has fallen 89% in the past three years and is now one of the United Kingdom’s most-shorted stocks.

ASOS Plc Holdings ranks No. 19 in the 2023 Europe Database. Digital Commerce 360’s database ranks the largest European online retailers by their web sales.

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Retailers share ways to make shipping more sustainable

April Berthene — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 17:07:59 +0000

Sustainability is part of Coalatree’s mission.   The performance apparel brand works to make its clothing in a sustainable way, such as designing products with sustainable materials like recycled water bottles and manufacturing its garments in factories that adhere to its standards, such as using a waterless dye method.   So when it comes to getting that […]

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Earnings recap: What you missed from Best Buy, Macy’s and more

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 16:11:26 +0000

More businesses in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 list of ecommerce retailers in North America reported earnings over the last week. These are the highlights you need to know. Read more earnings coverage here.

23andMe Inc. (No. 309)

Revenue was down 8% year over year for the fiscal fourth quarter, but it grew 10% to $272 million for the full fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. The biotechnology company grew its customer base 11% in the fiscal year to 14 million genotype users.

It also grew its subscription membership, 23andMe+, CEO Anne Wojcicki told investors. Subscription membership grew 51% year over year to 640,000 members. More customers are also opting in to the subscriber program with their initial purchase, though she did not give a specific figure.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (No. 101)

Advance Auto Parts reported a “double-digit sales increase” in ecommerce for its first quarter. Over the same period, net sales grew 1.3% year over year and comparable store sales decreased 0.4%. The auto parts retailer also reported that DIY omnichannel sales grew, without sharing specifics.

Bark (No. 173)

Revenue was down 2% year over year in the fiscal fourth quarter to $126 million, coming out ahead of Bark’s guidance. Direct-to-consumer revenue also decreased 1.5% to $116 million. For the full fiscal year, direct-to-consumer revenue increased 5.3% over fiscal 2022.

Bark broke down DTC revenue by product category. Toys, beds, and apparel generated $307 million in revenue in fiscal 2023. Consumables including treats and food generated $165 million.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (No. 7)

Domestic online revenue declined 12.1% for the first quarter to $2.69 billion, Best Buy said. Online sales made up 30.5% of total domestic revenue in the quarter, down slightly from 30.9% last year. About 40% of those sales were buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) orders, the retailer said.

Online sales have doubled since 2020, CEO Corie Barry told investors.

Big Lots (No. 251)

Net sales were down 18.3% year over year to $1.1 billion the first quarter, Big Lots reported.

“Our lower-income consumer was hurt by inflation, lower tax refunds, and higher interest rates, and their confidence has been shaken by banking failures,” CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement.

The discount retailer declined to share specific ecommerce data.

“We continue to improve the [online] customer journey through a more curated experience, better site navigation, and eliminating friction,” Thorn told investors.

Deckers Brands (No. 167)

Direct-to-consumer net sales grew 19.5% in the fiscal fourth quarter to $343.1 million, up from $287.2 million the previous year. Much of the growth came from a few specific brands. Sneaker company Hoka net sales, including in stores and ecommerce, grew 40.3% year over year to $397.7 million. Teva sales also grew 14.6%, while Ugg sales were down 16.1%.

“Fiscal year 2023 was an exceptional year for the Deckers organization, delivering 15% revenue growth and increasing earnings per share nearly 20%,” CEO Dave Powers said in a statement. “We continue to deliver record results, including the HOKA brand adding more than half a billion dollars of top-line revenue.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (No. 27)

Lululemon reported ecommerce sales grew 18% in Q1 over the year-ago period. Online sales contributed $835 million in revenue in the quarter, 42% of total revenue, the retailer said.

Traffic grew 30% year over year both in stores and online, chief financial officer Meghan Frank told investors.

Macy’s Inc. (No. 17)

Online sales were down 8% year over year in the first quarter. Ecommerce sales made up 33% of total sales in the quarter, CEO Jeff Gennette told investors. Digital penetration remained flat from 2022, down from a high of 40% during the pandemic.

Nordstrom Inc. (No. 21)

Ecommerce sales were down 17.4% in Q1 due to eliminating digital order fulfillment at Nordstrom Rack stores and closing the Trunk Club in 2022, the retailer said.

Nordstrom reported that digital sales made up 36% of net sales in the quarter, down from 39% of net sales in the year-ago period. Digital sales were approximately $1.1 billion in the quarter.

Sportsman’s Warehouse (No. 361)

Net sales decreased 13.5% year over year to $267.6 million in the quarter. Sportsman’s Warehouse didn’t provide specific information on ecommerce sales. CEO Jeff White told investors that online sales are a “continually growing highlight” of the business even as overall sales were down.

Ulta Beauty (No. 48)

Ulta comparable sales were up 9.3% year over year in the first fiscal quarter. The beauty retailer didn’t specify what percentage of sales were through ecommerce.

Ulta also finished the two-year rollout of its updated website and app in the quarter.

Victoria’s Secret & Co. (No. 53)

Net sales decreased 5% year over year $1.4 billion in the fiscal second quarter, Victoria’s Secret reported. Web traffic for the apparel retailer remained flat from 2022, though conversion rates and average unit retail both declined over the period.

Casual sleep and beauty were the best performing categories both online and in stores, CEO Martin Waters told investors. Sales in China showed “outsized growth in digital,” he said.

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How an apparel brand eliminates polybags

April Berthene — Tue, 30 May 2023 18:02:45 +0000

No one likes polybags. And even though the single-use plastic pieces serve a necessary purpose for protecting garments for online apparel merchants, brand manufacturer Toad & Co. still wanted to get rid of them.

“Polybags are the worst thing in the world. Everyone hates them but they are a necessary evil,” says Steve McCann, marketing director at Toad and Co.

Polybags are the clear plastic bags the nearly all apparel items are shipped in. But brands can’t just get rid of them without a replacement. Retailers need something to shield a garment from the elements as it makes its way through a warehouse on a belt, being picked, packed and shipped and making its way on a ship, truck or van or all three to a store or to a shopper’s doorstep, where it may encounter rain, snow and sleet. If the product gets damaged at any point, it will be thrown out.

“The lifecycle of ruining a garment versus the lifecycle of a polybag is much worse,” McCann says.

Since Toad and Co. started selling online in 2014, the brand went from using one traditional polybag, to optimizing the design to be more sustainable in five different sizes. It aims to eliminate polybags completely by 2024.

Shipping a ‘better’ polybag

The brand’s first iteration of making its polybags more sustainable was shrinking the standard width of each polybag to better fit its garments. What’s more, instead of using one larger polybag that would hold any of its products, it invested in polybags of different sizes so that each bag fits the garment, reducing the plastic required. It also thinned out the plastic to further minimize the amount of plastic used.

Steve McCann, marketing director at Toad and Co.

In addition, Toad and Co. changed the location of the airholes on its polybags. It moved them from the bottom of the bag to the top and alerted shoppers these polybags could be reused to pick up dog waste, McCann says.

And even after all these efforts, the retailer is working to eliminate all these polybags.

One alternative packaging retailers use is a compostable polybag made out of plant-based materials. These bags, however, have mixed reviews from vendors and merchants. While compostable materials could be better environmentally than single-use plastic, it’s challenging for consumers to get the bag to the proper facility. A consumer would have to drop them off at a collection point that takes this specific material. If a consumer throws out this material it could emit more methane in a landfill than other types of trash, according to several vendors, analysts and retailers. And if a consumer puts the bag in the normal recycling bin, it could clog and contaminate the normal recycling process, causing the entire batch of recycling to end up in a landfill.

Toad and Co. switches to paper polybags

Because of these issues, in 2020 Toad & Co. started working with packaging vendor Vela to pilot its paper polybags. They are made of Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper and can be recycled with mixed paper. This makes them much more likely to actually get recycled than a compostable bag. FSC is a nonprofit organization that ensures the paper is from a forest that is responsibly managed for environmental, economic and social benefits.

After piloting the paper polybags with a few products, the retailer confirmed they were sturdy enough to protect its garments and of the same quality as a traditional polybag, and began rolling them out across all of its products. Once the brand hits a certain minimum order volume of products at each of its factories, it makes the switch to using this product. As of Q2 2023, about 82% of its products use the alternative polybag and by spring 2024, 100% of them will, McCann says.

Toad and Co.’s shoppers have not commented on the switch in materials, but its wholesale accounts have reacted positively, McCann says. When brands ship items to stores, just like to a shopper’s home, each garment is encased in a polybag. Store employees open each bag and hang the garments up.

“They see it more so than anyone else, this is so much waste and so much plastic,” McCann says.

About 50% of Toad and Co.’s sales are direct-to-consumer online and the other half are wholesale to retailers, he says.

A more dramatic alternative: reusable packaging

To further lower its carbon footprint, Toad and Co. also gives shoppers the option to have their orders shipped in a reusable package. With vendor LimeLoop, Toad and Co. rents weatherproof bags. The bag are made of recycled polyester, mostly old billboards, on the outside. They have a zipper closure instead of tape and are recycled cotton on the inside.

For each LimeLoop medium bag, a retailer reduces 92% of carbon dioxide emissions and 99% of water use compared with shipping that order in a medium size cardboard box, according to LimeLoop. Similarly, for each LimeLoop small bag, a retailer reduces 42% of its carbon dioxide emissions and 9% of its water use compared with a polymailer plastic bag, according to the vendor.

The retailer piloted LimeLoop in 2018 and was one of its first clients. Its relationship ebbed and flowed throughout the years, as Toad and Co. has paused and resumed the service as it replatformed its ecommerce site and moved warehouses.

Here’s how it works: On the checkout page, shoppers can choose four shipping options, free standard, free standard with a LimeLoop mailer bag, paid second day or paid next day. If a shopper selects the LimeLoop option, her order will arrive in a reusable bag with instructions on how to return the bag. Once the shopper decides if she is keeping her entire order or is returning items, she visits ToadandCo.com to print a free return label. She puts the label it in the front sleeve of the bag and can drop it off in any U.S. postal service mailbox.

Toad and Co. commits to less packaging by sending orders in reusable bags.

Toad and Co. shoppers use LimeLoop

About 12-15% of Toad and Co.’s online shoppers select the LimeLoop package option, and 20% of those who chose LimeLoop as their fulfillment method, choose it again, McCann says. These are healthy numbers, McCann says, especially when considering how many new customers Toad and Co. has, he says without revealing more. For non-LimeLoop orders, Toad and Co. ships products in a 100% recycled paper mailer with water-based inks to ensure shoppers can recycled the bag.

Unlike thinning its polybags and increasing the number of polybag sizes it uses, the LimeLoop sustainable packaging is highly visible to the customer and something Toad and Co. receives a lot of positive feedback on, McCann says.

“It’s something that people when they look out their window, they get it. They get how many boxes they get from Amazon that you can’t even fit it all in your recycling bin anymore,” McCann says. “[Shoppers] understand it’s an issue, but they don’t see anyone doing anything about it. But they also love the convenience of [online shopping] and are not willing to change the convenience aspects. I think when brands have an option and it’s different and it’s addressing the issue, they love it and grab on to it.”

Printing the return label is a barrier for shoppers to using the service, McCann says. It is still working on the logistics of getting its systems to talk to each other to include the label with the package and how that would work if a shopper decides to return any number of items. LimeLoop says most of its clients include the return label with a package. LimeLoop has 45 online retail clients, mostly small businesses with annual revenue less than $5 million.

Challenges in getting the LimeLoop bags back

It takes about two weeks from when Toad and Co. ships an order to when it receives the bag back, a speed the retailer is continually trying to get faster, McCann says. The more it can reuse the bags, the better.

If Toad and Co. can use a LimeLoop package twice in one month, it breaks even in cost compared with traditional packaging. Otherwise, this shipping method is more expensive, McCann says without revealing more. LimeLoop rents the bags to retailers for about $1 per bag per month, and they can be used at least 200 times, the vendor says. So far in 2023, Toadandco.com has hit the twice-a-month frequency for each bag.

“Our benchmark KPI is that turnaround time,” McCann says.

When Toad and Co. first started using LimeLoop bags, it had trouble getting shoppers to return the bags, as some thought they were theirs to keep.

“The biggest part of the pilot learning was about the returns and how to communicate with customers,” McCann says.

In surveys, Toad and Co. learned that shoppers may take a few days to open their package once it arrives and then a few days to try on items and then decide what they want to keep. Then they have to print a label, which they may have to leave their house to do, and then put the bag in the mail. This all takes time.

About 12-15% of Toad and Co.’s online shoppers select the LimeLoop package option.

Toad and Co. learned that it needed to communicate urgency about returning the bags and educate shoppers in its emails about the importance of sending the bag back quickly in order for the process to be a sustainable option.

Communication with customers

In the five years since piloting the feature, industry standards have changed around communication with shoppers, McCann says. Previously, Toad and Co. hesitated to email customers more than three times a week, but now it has no issue contacting shoppers every day, McCann says. It can automatically send reminder emails via LimeLoop, as its systems know which customers haven’t returned their bags yet.

The vendor says some of its clients charge a few dollars as a deposit to customers to use the LimeLoop bag that retailers refund once they receive the bag back in the mail.

“This helps to keep the reusable packages always in motion and many clients utilize this feature,” a LimeLoop spokesperson says.

Bernardine Wu, executive managing director of digital strategy at digital consultancy OSF Digital, says LimeLoop is an interesting packaging vendor to watch, as it provides a sustainable packaging initiative that can scale and make an impact.

Integrating LimeLoop

It took a few months to integrate LimeLoop into all of the systems, McCann says. The retailer has done this twice, once when it launched, and then again in 2022 after a few months of program pause while it replatformed to a Shopify ecommerce site and moved warehouses.

When a shopper selects LimeLoop, the warehouse needs to know which order is selected for that package, as does its ordering platform, and shipping and return vendors. All of these integrations have to be built into its systems.

The merchant also had to learn how many shoppers would actually choose this option and how that correlates to how many LimeLoop bags it needs. Initially, Toad and Co. had 400 bags and it would frequently run out of them. Then, it couldn’t offer the option to shoppers until it received a bag back. In 2022 it invested in more bags for now a total of 2,800 and it no longer runs outs of bags.

Even though the system seems complex, Toad and Co. is happy with the program and the customer response. When Toad and Co. communicates to shoppers about the program either via email or on social media, those communication pieces always receive lots of feedback, McCann says.

While it wants to encourage more shoppers to choose this option, it is going to leave it at that, an option, McCann says.

“We can encourage and education and let people make an educated decision on what they want to do,” McCann says.

Toad and Co. is No. 1623 in the 2022 Digital Commerce 360 Next 1000.

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Earnings recap: What you missed from Kohl’s, Foot Locker and more

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 26 May 2023 17:03:58 +0000

More than a dozen businesses in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 list of ecommerce retailers in North America reported earnings this week. These are the highlights you need to know. Read more earnings coverage here.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (No. 60)

Abercrombie net sales were up 3% year over year to $836 million. The retailer did not break out ecommerce sales.

“On digital engagement, our team has leveraged social media platforms to showcase our lifestyle offering, where we are able to highlight key must-win products for us in an authentic way. Social has proven to be a great channel for our target millennial customer,” CEO Fran Horowitz told investors.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (No. 55)

American Eagle ecommerce revenue was down 4% year over year in the first quarter, while in store revenue was up 5%. Overall revenue grew 2%, the retailer reported.

“Customers returned to in-person shopping and demand continued to normalize from elevated builds during the pandemic,” chief operating officer Michael Rempel told investors in a call. Leaders at American Eagle are working on strategies to use analytics to increase engagement, traffic, and conversion, Rempel said.

Bath & Body Works Inc. (No. 57)

The health and beauty retailer finished expanding its BOPIS rollout across the U.S. in Q1, CEO and director Gina Boswell told investors on May 18. Bath & Body Works plans to increasingly connect its digital and in-store offerings, Boswell said, because customers who shop through both channels spend three times more than customers who only use one. As of May 18, just 15% of customers shop through both channels, she said.

Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. (No. 328)

Ecommerce sales were down 18.4% in Boot Barn’s fourth quarter. “We believe these declines are a result of competitors having a stronger in-stock position compared to last year and expect this softness will be transitory,” CEO and president Jim Conroy told investors.

“While our online business declined, that business is cycling two very strong years of 39% and 24% comp growth in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021, respectively. Given the extraordinary revenue increase last year, we are quite pleased with these results,” Conroy said. Retail same store sales declined just 3.3% over the same period.

BJ’s Wholesale (No. 69)

BJ’s Wholesale said that digitally enabled comparable sales were up 19% year over year for the quarter ended April 29 ,2023. Online sales made up 10% of total sales in the quarter, CEO and president Bob Eddy told investors. Members of the warehouse club who shop online spend 70% more than members who only shop in stores, Eddy said.

Canada Goose (No. 135)

The winter wear retailer grew revenue 31.4% year over year in its fiscal Q4, but growth was partially offset by lower ecommerce results, per CEO and chairman Dani Reiss. Canada Goose didn’t share specific ecommerce figures.

The retailer shared plans to “further enhance store productivity and e-commerce performance in the not-so-distant future,” without stating details.

The Children’s Place (No. 124)

Digital sales growth at The Children’s Place “significantly outperformed” in-store sales for the first quarter, CEO and president Jane Elfers said in a statement.

Online purchases made up 46% of sales in the quarter, compared to 45% in the previous year’s Q1 and just 33% in 2019. Elfers said ecommerce is projected to be 30% of sales by 2025, representing over $1 billion.

Web traffic was “up double digits,” and 56% of new customer acquisition came through ecommerce, the retailer said.

“Our millennial moms’ clear preference for the ease and convenience of shopping for her kids online is here to stay,” Elfers told investors.

Dick’s Sporting Goods (No. 32)

The sports retailer didn’t share specific ecommerce figures, but president and CEO Lauren Hobart told investors that “our digital experience remains an integral part of our success,” in a Q1 earnings call.

Dick’s acquired outdoor retailer Moosejaw in March. Moosejaw primarily operates online, averaging 3 million visitors per month.

“For just over 10 months in 2023, we expect Moosejaw will add approximately $100 million in net sales,” chief financial officer Navdeep Gupta told investors.

e.l.f. Cosmetics Inc. (No. 953)

Beauty retailer e.l.f. grew net sales by 78% in its fiscal fourth quarter, “primarily driven by strength across our retailer and e-commerce channels,” it said in a statement.

E.l.f. began as an exclusively online brand before expanding into stores. Consumption of the brand’s digital content was up 75% in fiscal 2023, CEO Tarang Amin told investors. The retailer’s beauty squad loyalty program grew to 3.7 million members in the quarter, up 25% year over year. Loyalty members were behind nearly 80% of ecommerce sales, along with higher AOV and more frequent purchases than non-members, Amin assid.

Foot Locker, Inc. (No. 52)

Foot Locker reported that comparable digital sales in Q1 were down 16.8% year over year. The footwear retailer also discontinued an ecommerce line called East Bay, and online sales were down 9.5% excluding the brand. That’s still a larger decrease than in store comparable sales, which were down 7.4%.

Online sales made up 16.3% of sales in the quarter, down from 18% in Q1 2022. Ecommerce sales are starting to pick up, with April sales up year over year, CEO Mary Dillon said. The retailer is on track to reach its goal of 25% online sales by 2026, Dillon said.

Guess Inc. (No. 177)

Online sales at Guess grew in Q1, although more slowly than in store sales, CEO Carlos Alberini said.

Total revenue was down 4% in the quarter to $570 million, with U.S. revenue declines offsetting growth in Asia and Europe.

Kohl’s Corp. (No. 23)

Digital sales were down 19.6% year over year in Q1, Kohl’s reported. Net sales were down just 3.3%.

“Our customers continue to shift back towards stores, and we reduced online-only promotions as we work to simplify our value strategies,” CEO Tom Kingsbury told investors.

Online sales made up just over one-quarter of sales for the quarter at 26%.

Ralph Lauren Corp. (No. 75)

Ralph Lauren’s digital sales were up in fiscal 2023, the retailer said. ”Sales in our owned Ralph Lauren digital sites grew mid-single digits on top of 20% growth last year,” chief financial officer and chief operating officer Jane Nielsen told investors in a Q4 earnings call.

“We plan to enhance the user experience with rich digital content and even greater customer personalization in fiscal ’24,” Nielsen said. That includes using generative AI for copy editing, computer programming, and graphics in addition to inventory optimization and forecasting.

Urban Outfitters (No. 30)

Apparel retailer Urban Outfitters reported comparable sales grew by double digits both in stores and online for its Anthropologie, Free People, and FP Movement brands. The Urban Outfitters brand’s comparable sales were down, and overall comparable sales were up 5%, the retailer said.

“The growth in Retail segment comp sales was driven by a high single-digit digital comp and a low single-digit positive store comp,” co-president and chief operating officer Frank Conforti told investors.

Online rental and resale marketplace Nuuly revenue grew 125% year over year, ending the quarter with 167,000 subscribers.

Williams Sonoma Inc. (No. 22)

Revenue decreased 6% year over year in Q1, but was up 3.5% over 2021. The retailer did not specify ecommerce revenue.

Williams Sonoma plans to “optimize our digital spend and customer connections,” per CEO Laura Albner.

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Earnings in brief: Gap’s online sales fall 9% in fiscal Q1

Paul Conley — Fri, 26 May 2023 16:10:31 +0000

The Gap Inc. reported a 9% decline in online sales in its fiscal first quarter — more than two times worse than the 4% drop at brick-and-mortar locations in the same period.

Net sales fell 6% versus a year earlier to $3.28 billion.

Comparable sales declined by 3% across Gap’s four brands. That was due mostly to large drops at Banana Republic and Athleta, while Old Navy fell slightly and the Gap brand posted a 1% increase. The results suggest that Gap will need to do more beyond cost-cutting measures to reposition its brands for longer-term growth.

“We continue to take the necessary actions to drive critical change at Gap Inc., ultimately getting us back on a path toward delivering consistent results long-term,” interim CEO Bob Martin said in a statement.

The Gap is No. 20 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 database, which ranks retailers by annual web sales.

Gap’s margin beats expectation

Gross margin in the period came in above the average analyst estimate, while adjusted earnings per share were slightly positive, compared with an expected loss. The improvement was due in part to lower air freight expense and fewer discounts, the company said. Gap has also reduced headcount and trimmed expenses.

Check back for more earnings reports.

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Primark launches a new US website, but customers can’t actually use it to shop

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 19 May 2023 18:52:26 +0000

Primark just launched an updated U.S. website, but it still won’t sell items online.

The U.K.-based retailer says the website will display thousands of products along with “a fresh design, enhanced navigation, and a brand-new feature that allows customers to check stock availability and size in their local Primark store,” per Primark’s statement from May 17.

A virtual shop with no checkout

Primark is intentionally avoiding a traditional ecommerce business model, according to a press release. The website will “better connect the journey between searching online and then shopping in stores,” Primark said. The retailer refers to the website as a “virtual shop,” though there is no option to make purchases.

“Our ranges showcase our strong commitment to value, something we know matters more than ever to our customers right now,” Primark U.S. president Kevin Tulip said in a statement. “And our website will help us to shine a spotlight on the breadth of fashionable and affordable choices available in our stores across the United States — particularly as we continue to grow and open up new stores in new markets across the country.”

Primark says that not implementing ecommerce allows it to save money on logistics that can be reflected in lower prices.

The retailer debuted the new website in the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Germany before the U.S. launch. Web traffic increased 60% to 100% year over year, said George Weston, CEO of parent company AB Foods, in an April earnings call. About 20% of site visitors use the stock checker function. “We think that [it] is driving footfall into stores and we really are very pleased with the impact the new site is having,” Weston said.

Primark tested BOPIS

Primark has stepped into ecommerce before, but only slightly. In late 2022, the retailer tested a buy-online-pick-up-in-store function at 25 U.K. stores. The test was small, and only available for children’s clothing. Primark’s website crashed within a few hours of the launch, Reuters reported.

The click-and-collect trial, as Primark refers to it, went “sufficiently well” to another 32 stores in the U.K., Weston said in the same earnings call. Primark is seeing promising basket sizes and a lower return rate than expected, he said.

Primark floundered during the pandemic

Primark’s aversion to adopting ecommerce was a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The retailer lost an estimated £540 million ($673 million) in a single quarter as sales fell and stores closed, The Financial Times reported.

Despite the new website and BOPIS tests, Primark isn’t considering fully embracing ecommerce. “At our price points and our basket sizes [online] doesn’t just take some of the margin; it takes all of it,” Weston told The Financial Times.

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Aviator Nation automates returns, uses stores to fulfill online orders

Gretchen Salois — Wed, 17 May 2023 17:49:32 +0000

Aviator Nation kept its stores open during the pandemic. At the time, the retailer’s return process required store employees to process each return, exchange or refund manually, says Matthew Solusod, CX operations manager.

Matthew Solusod, CX operations manager, Aviator Nation

“This was a problem for us because it took a lot of time,” Solusod says. “It took one or more employees away [to process returns or exchanges] during a time when we had to focus on our online sales channel.”

Aviator Nation’s return rates were on the rise between 2019 and 2020. The 1970s-inspired leisure wear retailer turned to Loop Returns, a returns services vendor. Aviator Nation processed its first return with Loop Returns in April 2021. By 2022, the retailer’s return rate dropped below 12%. It also offered bonus credits (by percentage) and in-store credit incentives to help encourage sales, according to Loop Returns.

After implementing Loop, Aviator Nation’s retained customer lifetime revenue is 63% for existing customers, Solusod says.

From April 2021-2023, the average upsell per return was $11.99. For every return an Aviator Nation customer submits, Aviator Nation earns $11.99 in new revenue.

From April 2021-November 2022, refunds decreased 11% and Aviator Nation retained 56.6% of revenue from returns. The average upsell per return during this period is $10.51.

“I think that’s about a third or half of what [the refund rate] was before,” Solusod says.

Aviator Nation uses ecommerce platform Shopify to run its website. Loop Returns integrates with Shopify.

“[Employees] can be more proactive rather than reactive. They are not spending time on menial tasks like manually processing returns,” Solusod says.

For example, if an item is out of stock, Aviator Nation employees can proactively reach out to customers to let them know and present other options, he says.

Aviator Nation leverages store inventory for online orders

In late 2022, Aviator Nation launched its omnichannel fulfillment option. Aviator Nation has 17 stores throughout the U.S. in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Texas, and Tennessee.

“Now we’re able to unlock all our retail locations and inventory. It gives a lot more availability for people shopping on the website,” Solusod says. “This also means we’re churning through inventory of stores quicker. We have a lot more inventory available for people shopping on the website.”

The retailer plans to launch buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) in 2023.

“That way, rather than having to wait for something to ship, you can just pop into a store and pick it up,” he says.

Solusod says each store’s inventory is available to fulfill online orders. Fulfilling online orders in store saves shipping costs, he says.

“If a customer near the Miami [store] location places an order, we can have Miami store fulfill that item. That saves us some cost,” Solusod says. “I think it also makes for a better experience. The customer can oftentimes get their item faster with the BOPIS option we’re rolling in.”

Aviator Nation’s mobile customers

The majority of Aviator Nation shoppers shop using their mobile devices, Solusod says. The retailer launched its own app in 2022.

“The app has been really successful,” he says. He did not share what portion of conversions come through the mobile app, but he says about 70% of online shoppers are converting through their mobile devices.

About 70% of Aviator Nation’s shoppers convert through their mobile devices. The retailer launched its own app for mobile devices in 2022.

Aviator Nation’s production and fulfillment centers are both located in California in the fashion/garment district of Los Angeles. The retailer sources its materials within the U.S.

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Warby Parker online sales decrease 8% in Q1 2023

Gretchen Salois — Wed, 10 May 2023 18:58:01 +0000

Warby Parker Inc. reported total sales revenue increased 12.2% to $172.0 million year over year during the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Ecommerce continues to decline

The eyewear retailer’s ecommerce revenue decreased 8% in Q1 2023 compared with a year earlier, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the earnings call on May 9. The decline in ecommerce revenue was in line with the retailer’s expectations, said Steve Miller, senior vice president and chief financial officer, during the call.

Miller said the decline was driven by “an intentional reduction in marketing spend by 35% year over year, as we bring marketing spend as a percent of revenue back to pre-pandemic levels in the low teens.”

The retailer expects ecommerce revenue to increase further into 2023, Miller said.

Warby Parker is No. 340 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers by web sales.

Warby Parker expands network of stores

The retailer finished Q1 2023 with an additional 35 stores. That brings its total to 204, “which compares favorably to retail revenue of about 28% year over year,” Miller said during the call. “Retail productivity in Q1 was 103% versus the same period last year.”

Warby Parker finished the quarter with 2.29 million active customers. That’s a 2.5% increase compared with the same period a year ago. Its average revenue per customer increased 8.4% year over year to $270.

Warby Parker attributes sales boost to in-store shopping, less due to ecommerce

“It’s worth noting that our revenue growth follows a similar pattern to our growth in active customers,” Miller said, “where active customers are increasing in retail driven by new store openings and decreasing our ecommerce channel as we rebalance marketing spend.”

Co-founder, co-CEO and co-chair Dave Gilboa told investors the retailer plans to see increased in-store sales as well as a “pickup in ecommerce traffic in the second half of this year.” In Q1, Warby Parker launched five new eyewear collections, including a celebrity collaboration with Jimmy Fallon.

Digital marketing strategy

Warby Parker also plans to advertise on linear TV and invest in digital programs like search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).

“With our channel mix between stores and [ecommerce] now rebalanced to pre-pandemic levels, we expect marketing spend as a percent of revenue to remain in line with pre-pandemic levels in the low double digits,” Gilboa said.

For the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2023, Warby Parker reported:

Revenue of $171.96 million, an $18.8 million increase over the revenue of $153.21 million in 2022.
A net loss of $10.8 million. That is a $23.3 million decrease from the reported loss of $34.13 million in Q1 2022.
Gross profit increased 5.7% to $94.8 million.
Active customers increased 2.5% to 2.29 million.
Average revenue per customer increased 8.4% year over year to $270.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports.

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Under Armour ecommerce grows 6% in fiscal Q4

Abbas Haleem — Wed, 10 May 2023 18:20:38 +0000

Under Armour ecommerce sales accounted for 46% of the retailer’s direct-to-consumer sales in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023. The sporting gear retailer’s direct-to-consumer revenue grew 3% year over year in Q4, to $454 million.

Total Under Armour revenue for the quarter grew 8% to $1.4 billion, the retailer said in a May 9 statement. Revenue from sales in North America increased 3% to $862 million, and international revenue simultaneously increased 16% to $526 million.

Under Armour ecommerce growth

Furthermore Under Armour ecommerce sales grew 6% year over year in Q4. And for the year, Under Armour ecommerce increased 3% and represented 42% of total DTC business.

“From a digital perspective, we will continue to work to reduce promotional activities in our ecommerce business,” said Stephanie Linnartz, president and CEO. “However, in short order, ua.com must become a showcase for our brand. So we are investing in improving the digital experience, including better product presentation, streamlined checkout and faster mobile site speed.”

She also added that Under Armour’s wholesale business includes relationships with sports specialty stores, department stores and pure-play ecommerce companies. Under Armour wholesale revenue increased 10% year over year in the quarter.

In North America, she said, Under Armour’s “DTC business was flat during the quarter with solid ecommerce growth offset by softness in our retail stores.”

Under Armour Inc. ranks No. 102 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers by web sales.

Under Armour earnings

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023, Under Armour reported:

Revenue increased 8% to $1.399 billion from $1.3 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Under Armour ecommerce grew 6% and accounted for 46% of direct-to-consumer sales.
DTC sales grew 3% to $454 million.
Wholesale revenue increased 10% to $909 million.
North America revenue increased 3% to $862 million.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, Under Armour reported:

Under Armour revenue increased to $5.90 billion. That’s up 3% from $5.727 billion the previous fiscal year.
Wholesale revenue increased 6% to $3.5 billion.
Direct-to-consumer revenue decreased 3% to $2.3 billion.
Under Armour ecommerce increased 3% and represented 42% of total DTC business for the year.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports.

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