Stein Mart, Inc. Assembles Team to Improve Performance and Explore Strategic Alternatives

Urban Outfitters, Inc. announced net income of $29 million and $1 million for the three months and year ended January 31, 2021, respectively. Total Company net sales for the three months ended January 31, 2021, decreased 6.9% over the same period last year to $1.09 billion. Comparable Retail segment net sales decreased 7% due to negative retail store net sales as stronger conversion rates could not offset the reduced store traffic caused by the coronavirus pandemic and related occupancy restrictions. Lower store net sales were partially offset by strong double-digit growth in digital channel sales. By brand, comparable Retail segment net sales increased 6% at Free People and decreased 6% at Urban Outfitters and 11% at the Anthropologie Group. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 7%. For the year ended January 31, 2021, total Company net sales decreased 13.4% over the same period last year. Comparable Retail segment net sales decreased 11%, driven by negative retail store net sales due to mandated store closures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and lower store productivity once opened, partially offset by strong double-digit growth in digital channel sales. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 40%.

*Comparable sales down 1.5% on an owned basis and down 1.6% on an owned-plus-licensed basis; up 4.3% and 4.4%, respectively, versus the second quarter of 2019. *Digital sales decreased 5% year-over-year while increasing 37% versus the second quarter of 2019. *Macy’s comparable sales were down 2.9% on an owned basis and down 2.8%, on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Bloomingdale’s comparable sales on an owned basis were up 8.8% and on an owned-plus-licensed basis were up 5.8%. *Bluemercury comparable sales were up 7.6% on an owned and owned-plus-licensed basis. *Inventory turnover, on a trailing twelve-month basis, was relatively flat to 2021 and improved 15% over 2019. *Gross margin for the quarter was 38.9%, down from 40.6% in the second quarter of 2021.

The pages of the 1942 Sears Christmas catalog held much that might seem quaintly old-fashioned today. The department store retailer’s easy payment plan, which could be laid out in a simple grid, has been replaced by sophisticated retail credit cards that offer various rewards and complex terms. The wooden toy tanks and metal fire trucks featured as Christmas toys are far more likely to be made of plastic and make electronic noise today. With World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, the catalog advertised war bonds and products that could be sent to soldiers and even devoted pages to imploring readers to save spare nails for the federal government. The mere existence of a printed Sears catalog would be just as alien to today’s consumers. The retailer axed the paper catalog in the 1990s and Sears is hardly alone. But the printed catalog isn’t gone. In fact by some measures, in some sectors of retail, it’s thriving. Retailers still mail billions of catalogs every year, and tens of millions of consumers still make purchases based, at least in part, on images and copy printed in catalogs that find their way to mailboxes. Click Read More below for more of the story.