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At Macy’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, Tapestry, Kontor, Kohl’s, Boot Barn and Farfetch, revenues grew between 10% and 33% year-over-year this quarter.As apparel retailers learn to navigate supply issues and consumers return to stores, children’s apparel, formal clothing and jewelry lead third quarter success.
Best Buy combats margin declines and supply chain constraints with investments in a beefed-up membership program. While the program has put short term financial pressure on the company, analysts interviewed by Modern Retail and Best Buy executives promise long-term gains.
Crafting retailer Joann’s third quarter revenue was down 14% year-over-year, despite the retailer's digital investments. The performance highlights that, after a banner 2020, crafting and sewing interest has officially slowed down.
Nearly two years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, retailers are still getting accustomed to operating in uncharted territory. That was evident during a series of third-quarter earnings calls last week from some of the biggest retail chains -- Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Kohl's and Macy's all reported earnings.
After taking a hit during the coronavirus and investing in new store features, Kohl's is back on track and increasing sales. During its 2021 third fiscal quarter, the department store credited its newly-opened Sephora shop-within-shops for the influx of young new customers.
As inflation continues to wreak havoc on consumer goods, food prices are going up across the board. According to Walmart's latest earnings report, the rising prices of its food items helped boost the retailer's year-over-year grocery sales by almost 10%.
In its first earnings since going public in September, Warby Parker showed mixed results of increased sales and widening losses. Like other startup consumer brands gone public, the company continues to accrue costs as it attempts to grow and retain its customer base.
Whether social media companies can steal share from the likes of Amazon and eBay by leveraging their content creators and captive communities will depend on the e-commerce tools they roll out in the coming months and years, some of which were detailed on their earning calls.
In March 2020, Costco was one of many retailers to enact product purchasing limits on essentials like toilet paper, hand sanitizer and bottled water, as consumer demand skyrocketed during the first wave of Covid-19. Now, the retailer is enacting limits on essentials once again, though this time to combat supply chain delays.
On Thursday, Nike announced 16% year-over-year growth in total revenue and 40% growth in North American digital sales. The brand is banking on digital sales and pushing consumers to its app, loyalty program and buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store features. However, strict Covid-19 regulations in Vietnam took their toll this quarter, and mean that future stockout strain is likely for the holiday season.
While other apparel retailers are gradually recovering, Zara's parent company is quickly surpassing its pre-Covid sales figures. This week Inditex, which owns the fast fashion brand as well as Pull&Bear and Massimo Dutti, reported a 7% increase in sales compared to the same period in 2019.
The likes of Chewy, Petco and Bark benefited from two major shifts during the pandemic: Accelerated consumer uptake of e-commerce and a pet adoption boom. Now, all three companies are betting on subscriptions to help maintain revenue growth.
While most subcategories across apparel grew, menswear, footwear and out-of-category pushes towards home and beauty were highlights in earnings conferences this quarter. To speak to these consumers, retailers curated menswear towards a younger consumer, expanded active and casual footwear offerings and built online and offline hubs to segment their forays into both beauty and home.
U.S. same store sales – up only 3% at Home Depot after a 25% rise last year and down 2% at Lowes for the first time in eight years – highlight the end of the pandemic DIY home boom. In response, executives at both retailers promise to court professionals.
After years of pushing its online segment, most recently with the introduction of the Amazon Prime-esque Walmart+, Walmart is seeing major e-commerce gains. In its quarterly earnings report, the retailer said it's projected to hit $75 billion in e-commerce sales in 2021.
Hiring is a challenge for many retailers this year, prompting companies to incentivize candidates with increased pay and perks. However, the traditional retail hiring practice is also part of the problem. The Body Shop's newly-implemented "open hiring" method, which removes several application barriers, is helping the company staff its stores and warehouses.
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