While Neiman Marcus’ overall sales fell in the luxury retail chain’s fiscal 2016, its online sales continue to grow.
E-commerce accounted for 29% of the multichannel retailer’s overall revenue during fiscal 2016, or $1.436 billion, up 7.3% from $1.338 billion last year.
To adjust to e-commerce’s growing importance to Neiman Marcus, CEO Karen Katz said the retailer has recently made staffing changes.
“Earlier this quarter, we reorganized our Neiman Marcus buying and planning teams and our information technology team to align our teams to our omnichannel business approach,” she says. “Although this required role eliminations and reassignments, we believe the initiative will lead to a more effective and efficient merchant organization and buying process and related support teams. We are forming a new product management team to oversee applications such as iSell, mobile pay initiatives, and our e-commerce site.” The iSell app is used by Neiman Marcus associates and aims to give them a more complete view of customers’ shopping history and preferences. A Neiman Marcus spokeswoman says the restructuring impacted fewer than 100 employees total.
Neiman Marcus, No. 36 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, also said it is adding e-commerce experience to its executive ranks. The retail chain hired Carrie Fisher, formerly Fossil Inc.’s chief marketing officer and head of e-commerce, to be its new chief marketing officer. Fisher replaces Wanda Gierhart, who left the retailer earlier this year.
Fisher joined Fossil in June 2013. Fossil grew its online sales to an Internet Retailer-estimated $149.6 million last year, up 32.3% from $113.1 million in 2013, when Fisher started with the company.
“With her impressive and extensive background in traditional and digital background and brand management, Carrie is the ideal leader to drive sales growth and customer engagement across our NMG portfolio of brands,” Katz said.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended July 30, Neiman Marcus reported:
- Net revenue of $1.128 billion, down 3.3% from $1.167 billion last year.
- A net loss of $407.2 million, compared to a net loss of $32.9 million last year. Neiman Marcus attributes the loss to what it calls “non-cash impairment charges” of $466.2 million due to writing down the value of trade names, some goodwill, and some long-lived assets.
For fiscal 2016, Neiman Marcus reported:
- Net revenue of $4.949 billion, down 2.9% from $5.095 billion last year.
- A net loss of $406.1 million, compared to a profit of $14.9 million last year.