Dick’s Sporting Goods, which gobbled up two distressed competitors last year and says it’s now the largest U.S. sporting goods retailer, reported sharp gains in online sales in both its fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 28 and its just-concluded fiscal year.
The retailer reported full-year sales of $7.922 billion, an increase of 9.0% over $7.271 billion in the prior 12-month period. E-commerce represented 11.9% of sales during the recent year, versus 10.3% a year earlier. That suggests online sales increased 25.9% to $942.7 million from $748.9 million.
Results were even stronger in the fourth quarter as total sales grew 10.9% to $2.483.4 billion from $2.240.1 billion. The online component of sales increased to 17.9% from 15.7%, putting online sales for the quarter at $444.5 million, up 26.4% from $351.7 million.
Dick’s, No. 62 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, benefited from the 2016 bankruptcies of competitors Sports Authority, Sports Chalet and Golfsmith, and bolstered sales by scooping up assets of Sports Authority and Golfsmith. In the fourth quarter, Dick’s converted three Sports Authority stores into Dick’s locations, while closing three Dick’s stores, 13 of its Golf Galaxy locations and two True Runner stores. Dick’s also acquired 30 Golfsmith stores, which it is converting to Golf Galaxy locations.
The SportsAuthority.com URL directs shoppers to Dicks.com and Golfsmith.com to GolfGalaxy.com.
The acquisitions and store openings accounted for a significant part of the sales gains for Dick’s in the past year. The retailer said comparable-store sales increased 5.0% in the fourth quarter and 3.5% for the year, well below the gains in net sales for the year and quarter.
“In 2016, we capitalized on opportunities in the marketplace, and further solidified our leadership position by enhancing the shopping experience in our stores, building brand equity and successfully relaunching our e-commerce business on our own web platform,” chairman and CEO Edward Stack said in announcing the quarterly and full-year earnings.
Dick’s, which formerly operated its e-commerce sites on what was once GSI Commerce and later eBay Enterprise, has been moving its websites to its own technology over the past couple of years. The retailer completed the process with the launch of Dicks.com on the new platform early in the fiscal year, Stack told analysts, according to a conference call transcript from Seeking Alpha. Dick’s had previously moved its FieldandStream.com and GolfGalaxy.com sites to the new technology.
Stack told analysts he expects the retailer will invest another $6 million to $7 million in the new website during the coming year. And he reiterated a previous estimate that managing e-commerce internally would add about 30 basis points, or 0.30%, to the company’s profit margin.
He also explained that Dick’s would be eliminating up to 20% of the vendors it buys from, culling those with slower sales, and investing more in its own private-label brands.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 28, Dick’s reported:
- Net sales of $2.483.4 billion, an increase of 10.9% from $2.240.1 billion in the prior-year period.
- E-commerce accounted for 17.9% of sales, or $444.5 million, an increase of 26.4% from the same quarter a year earlier when the web represented 15.7% of sales, or $351.7 million.
- Same-store sales increased 5.0%.
- Net income of $90.2 million, down 30.1% from $129.0 million. That net income was diminished by pretax charges of $93 million relating to store closing charges, write-downs of discontinued merchandise from vendors being phased out, and expenses related to converting former Sports Authority and Golfsmith stores. Excluding those charges, Dick’s reported non-GAAP net income of $147.8 million.
For the fiscal year ended Jan. 28, Dick’s reported:
- Net sales of $7.922 billion, an increase of 9.0% from $7.271 billion in the previous fiscal year.
- Online penetration of 11.9% versus 10.3% a year earlier, suggesting an increase in e-commerce sales of 25.9% to $942.7 million from $748.9 million.
- Same-store sales increased 3.5%.
- Net income of $287.4 million, down 13.0% from $330.4 million. Excluding charges, mostly taken in the fourth quarter, Dick’s reported non-GAAP net income of $349.7 million, an increase of 4.4% over $335.1 million in the previous fiscal year.
Dick’s projects same-store sales will increase 2-3% in the year ahead.
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