The company’s top-line results were impacted by three areas — loyalty, digital marketing and merchandise — which contributed to declines across its Full-Price and Off-Price businesses, in both stores and online.

Nordstrom will expand its presence in New York City, its largest market for online sales. The company is on track to open its flagship on October 24 and two Nordstrom local neighborhood hubs this fall. These physical assets will drive engagement with customers across multiple touch points, which is expected to contribute a meaningful sales lift for this market.

“While we expected softer trends from the fourth quarter to continue into the first quarter, we experienced a further deceleration. We had executional misses with our customers, and we’re committed to better serving them. This is well within our control to turn around,” said Erik Nordstrom, co-president, Nordstrom, Inc. “The strength of our inventory and expense execution helped mitigate a meaningful portion of our sales miss. We ended the quarter with inventories in solid shape, and our financial position remains strong. We’re actively taking steps to drive our top-line, and we’re focused on delivering on our financial goals.”

Gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, of 33.5 per cent decreased 60 basis points compared with the same period in fiscal 2018. This was primarily due to planned markdowns to realign inventory to sales trends and deleverage on occupancy expenses. Ending inventory decreased 5.3 per cent from last year, reflecting a positive spread between inventory and sales. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India