DSW Inc.’s stores are playing a bigger role in fulfilling online orders for the footwear retailer.
Stores shipped nearly 45% of DSW’s online orders during the fiscal first quarter ended April 29, up 52% year over year, while total online sales in Q1 grew by a percentage in the mid-teens, chief financial officer Jared Poff told analysts on DSW’s earnings call Tuesday.
“We are looking to focus on driving digital demand and fulfilling it from the place that makes the most sense anywhere in the chain, and we’ve built the infrastructure to do that and it’s playing out that way,” Poff said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha.
The retailer redesigned its website during the quarter using responsive design technology that adapts content to the size of the screen a consumer views it on. DSW also redesigned its mobile app.
“The vast majority of the conversion improvement we are seeing is through the mobile device,” CEO Roger Rawlins said. “As digital exerts an increasingly larger influence over retail sales, we expect these platforms to expand DSW’s online presence and accelerate digital demand growth.”
DSW, No. 146 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, in late April hired Michele Love from upscale department chain Nordstrom Inc. (No. 17) to be its new chief operating officer. Love, who started with DSW on May 1, oversees digital and marketing. She has spent the past 32 years at Nordstrom, most recently as vice president and director of its off-price Nordstrom Rack stores. During the first quarter of fiscal 2017 ended April 29, Nordstrom reported that online sales through its off-price brands, including NordstromRack.com and HauteLook, grew to $198 million, up 19.3% from $166 million during the same time last year.
“Michele will be overseeing marketing and the operation of our nationwide fleet of warehouses,” Rawlins said. “By combining oversight of these critical areas under one leader, we will provide messaging engagement and storytelling united across all touchpoints.”
For the fiscal first quarter ended April 29, DSW reported:
- Net sales of $691.1 million, up 1.4% from $681.3 million during Q1 2016.
- Net income of $23.0 million, down 23.3% from $30.0 million.
- A year-over-year comparable sales decline of 3.0%, compared with a 1.6% decline.