Western wear retail chain Boot Barn Inc.’s acquisition of Sheplers a year ago produced significant web sales gains in its fiscal year ended March 26, and the retailer says it plans to introduce a new e-commerce platform in the coming year.
Boot Barn, No. 565 in the newly released Internet Retailer 2016 Second 500 Guide, does not break out e-commerce in its earnings reports. On Boot Barn’s fiscal Q4 2016 earnings call, CEO Jim Conroy told analysts the company posted double-digit year-over-year online sales growth.
Sheplers had been No. 363 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide with 2014 web sales of $50.15 million, according to Top500Guide.com. Boot Barn was No. 590 in the Second 500 with 2014 web sales of $18.81 million.
“Our initiative to expand sales in our e-commerce channel is progressing well,” Conroy told analysts. “During the quarter we achieved solid growth in Bootbarn.com driven by enhancements and search engine optimization, better site merchandizing and improvement made to pay-per-click advertising,” he said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha.
A key to Boot Barn’s online sales growth, Conroy said, has been Sheplers, the western wear apparel, accessories and footwear retailer Boot Barn acquired a year ago for $147 million in cash. Boot Barn did not break out Sheplers’ sales in its earnings report, and Conroy didn’t say how Sheplers sales compared with Boot Barn sales.
“We believe that the acquisition of Sheplers increased our digital expertise, enabled us to grow our share of the e-commerce market and has positioned us well for future online sales growth,” he said. To capitalize on the retailer’s online sales momentum, Conroy said the company plans to upgrade its e-commerce platform in the new fiscal year, though he declined to specify how these improvements will drive those sales. “We’ve been also been working to further optimize our online pricing strategy, improve our mobile traffic conversation and enhance our CRM [customer relationship management] capability,” he said.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 26, Boot Barn reported:
- Net sales of $149.5 million, up 44.7% from $103.3 million last year.
- A year-over-year consolidated same-store sales decline of 1.2%.
- Net income of $1.0 million, down 61.5% from $2.6 million.
For fiscal 2016, Boot Barn reported:
- Net sales of $569.0 million, up 41.3% from $402.7 million last year.
- A year-over-year consolidated same-store sales decline of 0.1%.
- Net income of $9.9 million, down 27.7% from $13.7 million.