Chief Financial Officer Michael Mullican said ecommerce represented 9.5% of merchandise sales in the company's first fiscal quarter.

Academy Sports and Outdoors reported 19% ecommerce sales growth in its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2022.

Net sales were $1.47 billion, a decline of 7.1% from $1.58 billion the previous first year’s first quarter. Comparable sales dropped 7.5%. CEO Ken Hicks said, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript of the earnings call, that total sales have increased 36% when compared with Q1 2019. 

Chief Financial Officer Michael Mullican said ecommerce represented 9.5% of merchandise sales in the quarter. Ecommerce sales have grown 375% since Q1 2019, he said. Academy Sports and Outdoors ranks No. 138 in Digital Commerce 360’s database of Top 1000 e-retailers. It ranks e-retailers based on web sales.

“Ecommerce growth should continue as we make further enhancements to academy.com,” Mullican said. “Additionally, both the number of markets we serve and our overall brand awareness continue to increase as we open new stores, which will ultimately drive more omnichannel business.”

The company opened in late April its 11th Atlanta-area store, Hicks said. Academy Sports and Outdoors has 260 stores now, in 16 different states. Hicks said the company’s current plan is to open at least eight new stores this fiscal year and 80 to 100 stores over the next five years.

Merchandise performance and margins

Hicks said he was pleased with the company’s positive ecommerce performance, adding that it continues to invest in technology to accelerate its omnichannel growth. All four of the company’s geographic regions and each of its four major merchandise divisions had decreased year-over-year sales, he said.

However, when compared to Q1 2019, each merchandise division grew at least 20%, and outdoors increased more than 50%, Hicks said.

“We believe this division is a real differentiator for us long-term,” he said. “Fewer retailers are focused on it, and we continue to expand our assortment through relationships with vendors.” 

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Those vendors include Coleman, YETI, The North Face and more.

The company wrote in its earnings press release that gross margin was $521.4 million, or 35.5% of net sales. That’s compared to gross margin of $563.7 million, or 35.7% of net sales in the prior year’s first quarter. An increase in merchandise margins and a decrease in freight costs offset an increase in inventory and ecommerce shipping costs, the company wrote.

For the first fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2022, Academy Sports and Outdoors reported:

  • Net sales were down 7.1% to $1.47 billion. They were $1.58 billion for Q1 2021.
  • Ecommerce represented 9.5% of merchandise sales.
  • Ecommerce sales grew 375% since Q1 2019, the last Q1 before widespread COVID-19 closures.

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