Direct-to-consumer sales, which include online and omnichannel sales, accounted for 24% of Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s sales last year, the multichannel apparel retailer reported today. That’s a two percentage point rise from a year earlier.
That gain shows the retailer is making progress in its push to bolster its omnichannel initiatives, says Arthur Martinez, executive chairman.
“2015 was a year of tremendous change for us,” he says. “We completed our move to a branded structure, strengthened our teams and improved our core processes. More importantly, we evolved our assortment and we refocused our attention on our customer through greater accountability and empowerment at the store level, and through changes in our in-store experience. In addition, we continued to invest in direct-to-consumer and omnichannel and execute our aggressive store closure program. While we accomplished a lot, there is much more progress we need to make to fulfill the potential of our brands.”
Abercrombie, like many mall-based retailers, has spent the past few years closing stores. It ended the year with 932 stores, down 3.4% from 965 stores at the start of the fiscal year.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, Abercrombie, No. 55 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, reported:
- Total revenue of $1.113 billion down less than 1% from $1.120 billion. But on a constant currency basis revenue rose 2%.
- Direct-to-consumer and omnichannel sales accounted for 28% of net sales, up from 27% a year earlier. That translates to an estimated $311.6 million in direct-to-consumer sales, up 3% from an estimated $302.4 million.
- Comparable-store sales, which include U.S. and international, rose 1%. U.S. comparable-store sales decreased 1%.
- Net income was $73.7 million, down 8.8% compared with $80.8 million a year ago.
- The web played a part in 28% of total sales compared with 27%.
For the full fiscal year, Abercrombie reported:
- Total revenue of $3.519 billion down 6% from $3.744 billion. On on a constant currency basis sales fell 3%.
- Direct-to-consumer and omnichannel sales accounted for 24% of net sales, up from 22% a year earlier. That translates to an estimated $844.6 million in direct-to-consumer sales, up 2.5% from an estimated $823.7 million.
- Net income was $78.0 million, down 30.5% from $112.3 million.