Mobile keeps making up a bigger chunk of Urban Outfitters Inc.’s e-commerce sales. 30% of the multichannel retailer’s overall sales stemmed from mobile devices in the second quarter, and mobile devices account for 55% of traffic to the retailer’s multiple e-commerce sites, Dave Hayne, chief operating officer of the merchant’s Free People brand, said Monday during a conference call with analysts.
To better serve those mobile users, the retailer is moving to a new e-commerce platform that Hayne says will produce a “faster shopping experience, improved functionality, broadened FP Me capabilities, more seamless mobile presentations.” FP Me is the retailer’s on-site social community where consumers share images of themselves wearing the brand’s clothes and interact with other consumers.
“To better support our e-commerce future and better position ourselves for the new mobile era, the Free People team and our shared service partners have been hard at work, building the future web platform for all of our brands,” he said. The retailer did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the vendor or vendors with which it’s working.
The retailer, No. 49 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, says it also is working to weave more digital elements into its stores. For instance, Urban Outfitters tested in-store beacons that send consumers who have its UrbanOn app on their smartphones a marketing message when they’re in a store. 54% of consumers who received a message interacted with them, said CEO Richard Hayne, and that rate is many times higher than the typical email message open rate. Moreover, consumers who opened the messages were three times more likely to make a purchase than an average shopper.
“Most of these productivity initiatives are currently in the design and testing stage,” he said. “If proven successful, they will be adopted across all stores.”
Overall, the retailer said it grew its direct-to-consumer business, which is primarily online sales, 37% during the quarter and that it saw a “nice bump” in conversion rates on its sites. It did not break out e-commerce sales.
For the quarter ended July 31, Urban Outfitters reported:
- Net sales of $867.5 million, a 6.9% increase from $811.3 million during the same period a year ago.
- Net income of $66.8 million, a 1.0% decrease from $67.5 million a year ago.
For the first half of the year, the retailer reported:
- Net sales of $1.606 billion, a 7.2% increase from $1.498 billion during the same period a year ago.
- Net income of $99.6 million, a 5.1% decrease from $105.0 million a year ago.