Both online and offline sales slid in 2016.

Both online and offline sales slid for apparel chain The Buckle Inc. in fiscal 2016, and the multichannel retailer’s executives say they’re going to take a closer look at how to turn those fortunes around.

The Buckle, No. 244 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, reported online sales during the fourth quarter of 2016 of $32.2 million, down 8.8% from $35.3 million during the same time last year. For 2016, Buckle reported online sales of $99.8 million, down 5.4% from $105.5 million last year. Those declines were smaller than the retailer’s 2016 13% overall sales dip, which meant that e-commerce accounted for a greater portion of overall sales in 2016 (10.2%) than in 2015 (9.4%).

“We will be continuing to audit and review our marketing and our digital (operations) to see what improvements we can do there, and we think that we will be able to make a change on that in the near future,” Dennis Nelson, the Buckle’s president and CEO, told analysts on Buckle’s fourth quarter 2016 earnings call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha.  Nelson did not specify what those changes are.

One change that is in Buckle’s future is to offer shoppers the option to pick up items bought online in its stores. The retailer expects to roll out the option by this fall, Nelson said.

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended January 28, Buckle reported:

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  • Net sales of $280.0 million, down 15.7% from $332.0 million last year.
  • A year-over-year comparable store sales including e-commerce decline of 16.1%.
  • Net income of $36.0 million, down 33.7% from $54.3 million last year.

For 2016, Buckle reported:

  • Net sales of $974.9 million, down 13.0% from $1.120 billion last year.
  • A year-over-year comparable store sales decline including e-commerce of 13.5%.
  • Net income of $98.0 million, down 33.5% from $147.3 million last year.
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