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| Statement |
|---|
| We saw that our digital business performed slightly better in the quarter than our stores business |
| That looks like that it's very positive for us |
| So the stores that have been remodeled the longest continue to see double-digit sales increases, so that's a very strong performance, very good due for us |
| And that means that we embrace all aspects of a woman's journey through life and provide better comfort and sport bras than anybody else in the market |
| As we hindsight it, I would say we got enormous media coverage, like 17 billion media impressions that were in excess of 80% positive, so that was good |
| Our fourth quarter gross margin rate increased significantly compared to last year, exceeding our expectations, driven by disciplined inventory management and cost reductions related to our Transform the Foundation initiative to modernize our supply chain |
| Sales trends during the quarter were volatile by week, but we were encouraged by the improving quarterly sales trend in North America, driven by a sequential improvement in traffic and average unit retail in both our stores and digital channels, with traffic in our stores increasing in the fourth quarter as compared to last year |
| We were particularly pleased with our early holiday sales in November and during the peak days and weekends leading up to Christmas, both in stores and through our digital channels, led by strong response to our giftable merchandise assortment, improving customer experiences and marketing messages |
| So a lot of good learnings and very encouraging results continue in Store of the Future |
| Our international business continued its strong performance with system wide retail sales up more than 20% in the fourth quarter compared to last year, driven by significant growth in China and globally with our franchise and travel retail partners |
| We continue to experience profitable growth across stores and digital, and we're excited about our aggressive growth plans to expand our footprint in both stores and digital around the world |
| So I feel good that expenses are well under control |
| We're finding off-mall, particularly outlet center with the new Store of the Future format is a very, very good do for us |
| So, I'm confident that the gross margin -- when I look at estimates, actually our gross margin rate was likely above the street for the year, even on a lower sales |
| We've had very good success today in off-mall, particularly in outlet centers |
| We believe our evolving strategies will position our business to deliver the potential of our category defining brands, and we remain confident and are committed to delivering long-term financial targets and returning value to shareholders |
| It's well positioned for 2024 |
| We also had a minimizer bra in that assortment which is very innovative and has proved to be very successful and with relatively low level of marketing customers finding it |
| So I feel very good about the gross margin opportunity, again, on lower sales based on how the teams are managing inventories in our stores and our distribution centers |
| So we feel good about that element of the model |
| But from your lips to God's ears, if that is a trend, we'll be very, very well positioned to take advantage of it, Marni |
| We had a very strong gross margin performance in the fourth quarter that we just came across |
| We're excited about what we've got coming forward |
| So kind of all across the franchise, we've seen strength, and we're very pleased with the performance of it |
| I want to first share my appreciation and gratitude for the hard work and dedication of our associates and partners around the world who executed our strategies, delighted our customers and delivered solid financial results in the all important holiday quarter |
| So that's the skill of what we do, Simeon, and we manage it very carefully on a day-to-day basis and I'm very proud of the team that are doing that work |
| So I feel very good that the team is able to accomplish an SG&A leverage point in that 1% to 2% range throughout -- on an annual basis for the year |
| We're very pleased with our partner operations, getting a store model that enables us to expand |
| And so leading with intimates, being strong in bodysuits, being strong in innerwear, having a really strong and compelling gift assortment, a strong sleepwear assortment, all of those things were positives in the brand |
| Our brand equity improved markedly during the quarter |
| Statement |
|---|
| As we look into the New Year, we recognize the broader intimates market in North America has been down for four consecutive quarters and the macro environment remains challenging, putting pressure on the consumer |
| So in PINK, we identified more on about 15 months ago that the PINK business was under significant pressure |
| This forecast reflects our expectation that the domestic intimates market will remain challenged and that our core customer will be cautious in this environment |
| As we look at the beginning parts of Q1 and 2024, it appears to us it's going to continue to be a challenge |
| So traffic to stores came back at certain peak weeks, and that put pressure on our selling organization to be ready |
| We have lost top of mind awareness with that young consumer |
| From a market perspective, sales for the intimate market in North America as a whole decreased mid-single digits in the quarter compared to last year, which was the fourth consecutive quarterly year-over-year decline |
| As the PINK business has been challenged, obviously, that challenge is freestanding stores |
| We've assumed in our guidance that the domestic market for intimates will continue to be down through the spring season and will start to stabilize, not grow, but stabilize as we move into the back half of the year |
| So the single biggest challenge in the model right now is the North America sales trend and that's what would be driving the majority of the flow through that you're challenging |
| We did make an assumption that the intimates market would continue to be difficult in spring, we made an assumption that it would stabilize, not improve, but stabilize as we move into fall |
| For the first quarter of 2024, we're forecasting sales to decrease in the mid-single-digit range compared to sales of $1.407 billion in the first quarter of 2023 |
| So as Martin mentioned in his prepared comments, the market for intimates has been down four quarters in a row now |
| In some areas where it's more difficult for us to defend share, like panties, which is a less differentiated merchandise category, we will need to be aggressive and you will see us leaning into promotions as aggressively as we ever have |
| The challenge that we have is that |
| So bringing stores together we're seeing footage go down 20% or 30% and sales maintain |
| The impact of the PINK apparel challenges in the fourth quarter was approximately 1 to 2 points compared to last year |
| We will still have some level of merit pressure across our 800 plus stores and distribution centers and 25,000 associates or more |
| The challenge is we've got to get more people into the franchise overall |
| For the 52-week fiscal year 2024, we're forecasting sales to be about $6 billion or down low single digits to a comparative 52 weeks from fiscal 2023 |
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