which operates of namesake stores as well as abercrombie, its children’s apparel brand; surf-themed Hollister; and intimate apparel store Gilly Hicks, said sales in stores open at least one year, a key retail metric known as same-store sales, dropped 30 percent.”We continue to be confronted with very challenging conditions during the second quarter,” Jeffries said. “Consumer spending patterns domestically continue to be dictated by cost and value propositions, and this is clearly a headwind for our premium brands.”Sales dropped 23 percent to $648.5 million, but that topped analyst expectations of $646.5 million.New Albany, Ohio-based abercrombie hollister Co.,
Now, it wasn’t the company’s high prices relative to lower-cost alternatives such as Aeropostale (ARO) and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) that caused consumers to roil at the prospect of patronage. The problem was, as one respondent wrote, the “immoral advertising and the message it sends to teens.”Even if kids still want to shop at its stores, parents are saying no.Same-store sales fell 27 percent at namesake stores, 29 percent at abercrombie stores, 33 percent at Hollister and 31 percent at Ruehl.At the top of the list was abercrombie Jeans .
The glimmer of hope Abercrombie may have seen of late—rising stocks and consumer confidence—has all but disappeared as stocks have slumped again on worries that consumers are still clinging to their wallets.Abercrombie’s recent financial report also suggested it has cut its marketing budget. Another bad move at a time when it should be letting its customers know it has finally come to its senses.This happened to us a year ago and I started to believe that the problem was happening throughout the chain that I wrote to the State Attorney General to complain.
It seems that every teen I ask has had the experience of the young sales clerk (who looks and acts the “abercrombie mens ” image that the teens desire to emulate) saying “if it doesn’t ring up on sale, it is not on sale.” This of course is bogus in most cases, but the teen shoppers are sucked in by it if they don’t know the law.A chastened abercrombie and fitch Co. said Friday it is actively lowering prices and trying to catch up with fashion trends such as dresses as the retailer reported a fiscal second-quarter loss and its third straight quarter of double-digit sales declines.
