The company’s Hoka athletic footwear brand was the main growth driver, making up two-thirds of its net sales for the quarter.

“The brand is on track to deliver another year of healthy growth with premium products and elevated experiences that enhance our consumer connections,” said Dave Powers, Deckers’ outgoing CEO, during the earnings call.

Deckers Brands web sales by year

Deckers, which also owns Ugg, Teva, Sanuk and Koolaburra, holds the No. 51 spot on Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 ranking of the largest online retailers in North America. The company falls under the Apparel & Accessories category. Digital Commerce 360 projects that web sales for Deckers Brands will reach $2.1 billion in 2024.

Deckers Brands Q1 earnings growth led by Hoka and Ugg sales

Hoka set a new record in the company’s first quarter, with revenue surging 30% year-over-year to $545 million. The brand’s DTC revenue, primarily sales from its ecommerce website, grew by 33%.

Powers attributed the surge to high demand for Hoka’s products, including new launches, across the global market.

“From a DTC perspective, Hoka continues to see global gains through consumer acquisition and retention, with particular strength among retained consumers,” he said.

Ugg also delivered strong results in the quarter, with global revenue rising 14% year-over-year to $223 million, according to Powers. The growth was driven by robust full-price sales of key franchises like the Tasman and the Golden Collection, which significantly contributed to the boot brand’s DTC success in both the U.S. and international markets, he noted.

Future outlook and leadership changes at Deckers

Looking ahead, Deckers projects a 10% increase in overall revenue for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, reaching $4.7 billion. Hoka is expected to grow around 20%, while Ugg is expected to see mid-single-digit growth.

Powers is retiring as president and CEO on Aug. 1, with Stefano Caroti, the current chief commercial officer, set to take over both positions. Deckers also plans to nominate Caroti to the board at its 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, while Powers will remain on the board through the 2025 meeting.

Shareholders will also vote on a proposed six-for-one forward stock split during the annual meeting on September 9.

In addition, Deckers has reached an agreement to sell its Sanuk brand, which it acquired for $120 million in 2011. Details about the deal, expected to close in August, were not provided.

During the company’s October earnings call, Powers noted Sanuk’s strong product performance but said scaling the brand meaningfully within the Deckers’ portfolio would take too long.

“There’s other things that we think we can invest in, and we think that this is a brand that consumers love,” he said, adding that Sanuk “deserves a good home” versus being the “fourth or fifth brand in our portfolio.”

More Q1 earnings highlights for Deckers

For the quarter ended June 30, 2024, Deckers reported:

• Sanuk’s net sales decreased by 28.4%, to $6.9 million from $9.6 million a year ago.
• Teva’s net sales fell 4.3%, to $46.3 million from $48.4 million.

Other brands, primarily Koolaburra, saw net sales surge 123.5% to $4 million from $1.8 million.

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Piyush Chaudhari, CEO, Salsify

A veteran executive involved in helping brands connect with customers, Piyush Chaudhari joined product experience management company Salsify last month as CEO, succeeding co-founder Jason Purcell as the top executive. Chaudhari joins Salsify as the company invests millions to roll out new technology products, including AI and automation, designed to improve how companies manage and syndicate branded product descriptions and images to attract online customers and boost conversion rates.

In this July 2 interview with Digital Commerce 360, he shares his views from Salsify’s corner office on the future course of product experience management and how brands can win the digital shelf.

Interview with Piyush Chaudhari

Digital Commerce 360: What excites you most about joining Salsify now as CEO? Please comment on one or more of the experiences in your career that will help you bring unique value to Salsify and its customers, including B2B as well as retail companies.

Piyush Chaudhari: I’m two weeks in at Salsify as we speak, and I have spent it talking to Salsify employees (or Salsifarians, as we call them) and Salsify customers in both the U.S. and Europe. These conversations have confirmed what I hoped for coming in — that my colleagues, our customers, and digital commerce are hungry to take advantage of significant growth opportunities on the digital shelf over the next few years. My past experiences at places like Aon Hewitt and IRI, driving continuous improvement in the quality of the products and services, will serve as a great foundation for expanding the business value our customers realize from their Salsify partnership.

DC360: What do you see as Salsify’s most significant strengths, and how do you plan to build on them? Are there particular technology applications and/or services you want to introduce or explore to expand Salisfy’s product suite?

Chaudhari: Our market position starts with our people, and their passion for helping our customers win on the digital shelf. Our customers’ ambitions drive everything we do. There’s a reason that Salsify was named a “Leader” in the most recent Forrester Wave in our space. Since our founding, we have focused on delivering a platform that will enable our customers to optimize the product content on every digital shelf touchpoint.

Salsify lets our customers centralize their product data and be sure it meets the data requirements of every retailer. We then connect that data everywhere it needs to go across an open network that’s continually expanding. Finally, we make sure they can do all this at scale, with automation and AI to drive all this with maximum efficiency.

We have all this in one unified platform — and over the next few years, we are going to continue to innovate by expanding our network and embedding AI throughout the product experience management (PXM) lifecycle to realize the goal of optimizing every touchpoint, everywhere.

DC360: How well do you think most companies (including existing Salsify clients and prospects) recognize and act on the importance of deploying comprehensive technology systems for effective product data management technology? What can help bring more companies further into effective product data management strategies, including through extended sales and distribution networks?

Chaudhari: There is no question that the period of COVID — when the digital shelf was the only shelf — brought product experience management (PXM) front and center into executive suites for retailers and manufacturers across all categories. They had to invest not only in the right technology, but also reshape the ways in which their cross-functional processes and teams designed, marketed, and sold their products to consumers and B2B buyers.

We have been fortunate enough to be their partners and advisors in the first decade of Salsify, and have witnessed companies like Mars and L’Oreal and many others go from implementing PXM in one team or region to executing global digital shelf excellence in every market. At the same time, retailers like Amazon, Kroger, Wayfair and Intermarché make it seamless for their suppliers to quickly understand and meet their product content requirements through automated APIs rather than outdated spreadsheets.

We are excited to work with B2B distributors like Affiliated Distributors (AD) and Grainger and their suppliers to extend digital shelf best practices into the industrial space. B2B buyers have the same expectations as consumers and want to self-serve their buying experience as much as possible. We believe this industry will transform in half the time of companies adopting PXM in the first decade, given the paths that have already been tread and the impact of AI.

DC360: What are companies (including both merchants and brand suppliers) missing regarding effective technology and strategies for effectively competing for sales and brand recognition through the digital shelf? What are some of the newest and most effective strategies merchants and brands should deploy?

Chaudhari: We believe that the single most important driver of growth that will emerge over the next several years is AI-propelled personalization at scale. We have seen the improvements in conversion in areas such as email marketing when brands are able to apply deep knowledge of the consumer through permission-based first-party data to demographic, behavioral, and other predictive data insights to drive higher click-throughs and conversion.

Imagine the growth potential when a merchant is able to apply similar intelligence at scale to personalize a product detail page (PDP) for each visitor instantaneously.

Achieving this future will require deep data collaboration between retailers and their suppliers to make sure there is the product data necessary to support merchandising that supports the correct persona, occasion, and use case. Retailers must invest in the technology and data infrastructure to power these experiences through collaboration with their suppliers, and suppliers must be testing and learning their way with generative AI and the automated processes to be able to support personalized merchandising at scale through their retailers.

DC360: Are brands and merchants today collaborating more effectively than in the past to build customer loyalty and grow sales and profits? How do you see Salsify helping them along these lines?

Chaudhari: Quality product content is the foundational fuel of two things that modern retailers care very much about.

One, accurate, complete product content powers both search discovery and conversion on the product page. 78% of online shoppers cite product images and descriptions as “extremely” or “very” important to their buying decision.

Two, in recent research from the Digital Shelf Institute and Stratably, 71% of digital leaders from 78 global consumer brands said Product Detail Page (PDP) quality significantly influences their return on ad spend (ROAS). In a time where many retailers hope to boost their balance sheet by monetizing their audience with brands, ad buyers are refusing to increase investments until product data quality is best in class.

In response, leading retailers have invested heavily in the processes and API connections that enable suppliers to meet constantly shifting data requirements in a more automated and reliable fashion. For retailers such as Walmart and Kroger, we are seeing a trend toward OmniConnectors, APIs that are purpose-built to support data ingestion for both digital shelf and brick-and-mortar. Salsify is democratizing these 2-way, automated connections between suppliers and retailers through innovations like our Open Catalog. Continually optimized quality product content will be a minimum requirement for entry into the future world of a personalized digital shelf at scale.

DC360: How will AI and other emerging technologies help companies better engage customers with digital content that is personalized to their needs and will boost conversions and sales? How do you see AI and other emerging technologies adding to Salsify’s product offerings?

Chaudhari: Salsify is a no-hype AI zone. By that I mean that we really try to clearly differentiate between what may become possible in the future, and what is available now for our customers to use on their test, learn, and scale journey. So today, you’ll see from us AI-propelled capabilities like our Grocery Accelerator, which uses AI to rapidly validate grocery suppliers’ against regulatory, industry, and retailer-specific requirements, and proactively surfaces content recommendations to speed accurate and compliant product content to market.

Our customer Uma Home Decor introduces one to four thousand new products a year. Content creation for that many products was a serious impediment to getting to market. With AI connected to Salsify, they were able to reduce their production of content from six months to six weeks!

In the future, you will see AI deployed across the entire PXM lifecycle — data modeling, content creation, data quality validation, automated mapping to each retailer’s requirements, and the ultimate goal of PXM, continuous optimization of every digital touchpoint.

The Salsify App Store will be a busy place over the next several years, where best-in-class AI providers will be able to easily hook their latest capabilities into Salsify and customers can implement the ones that deliver the value they need in the PXM lifecycle. Exciting times ahead!

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Shelley Salomon, worldwide vice president, Amazon Business

“Amazon Business wants to change how companies shop for supplies through our unmatched selection, deep discounts, and smart capabilities,” says Shelley Salomon, worldwide vice president of Amazon Business.

The new toolset includes:

• Amazon Business App Center, a global “one-stop shop” where companies can connect their Amazon Business account with more than 25 third-party applications for such purposes as integrated shopping, financial accounting management, inventory management, business analytics, and loyalty program management.
• Guided Buying for managing employee spending and steering buyers to an organization’s preferred purchasing. For example, a toolbar lets account administrators highlight preferred products with sustainability certifications.
• Integrated Quoting is designed to help businesses generate custom quotes for bulk orders placed through Amazon Business as well as other suppliers via third-party e-sourcing and e-procurement platforms. Amazon says the Integrated Quoting feature is “ideal for business customers purchasing more than 1,000 items or more than $10,000 in total value.”
• Budget Management helps companies manage how they set and review time-bound budgets across their organization, Amazon says. “Business customers can set spend thresholds and make budget amounts visible to buyers to get ahead of overspending,” Amazon says.
• Cross-domain Identity Management is a new feature that Amazon says saves companies time maintaining their Amazon Business accounts by automatically syncing users’ and group data from their organization’s identity provider.

The new Guided Buying tool available through Amazon Business.

Amazon Business says it “drives roughly $35 billion in annualized gross sales and has more than 6 million customers worldwide, including 96 of the Fortune 100.”

Greg Long, purchasing manager at Seminole County Public Schools in Sanford, Florida, says in an Amazon Business press release: “One of our favorite Amazon Business features is Budget Management. It gives teachers visibility into our budget, so they know how much they have to spend, making it easier to stay within our annual budget.”

Amazon Business adds that it is focused on companies of all sizes.

“Amazon Business wants to transform how companies — whether a local hair salon, global corporation, school, non-profit, hospital, or government agency — shop for supplies through an unmatched selection, deep discounts, and smart capabilities,” a spokesperson says. “Using innovative technology, Amazon Business saves organizations time and money so they can focus their resources on what matters.”

Salomon adds, “We don’t just react to the biggest challenges our customers have shared with us; we get ahead of them with new technologies so our customers can use their resources to navigate the unexpected and continue expanding their business.”

Salomon, an Amazon veteran of more than 20 years, was appointed worldwide vice president of Amazon Business in March after Alexandre Gagnon left that position for a leave of absence. Amazon did not comment on the future plans of Gagnon, who still lists his Amazon Business position on his LinkedIn page.

Salomon’s most recent position at Amazon was vice president of sales, marketing and business development, Amazon Devices. Her other Amazon positions have included vice president of global logistics and delivery technology, and president of Endless.com. She joined Amazon in December 2023 as a senior finance manager following a finance manager position at Intel, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Jordan Boggi, executive vice president of customer experience, president of online, The Home Depot Inc.

For a company known for ushering in a new customer experience the home improvement industry, The Home Depot Inc. isn’t skipping a beat in how it manages CX both online and in its cavernous stores.

The retail chain said Jordan Boggi, president of online, will also take on the role of executive vice president of customer experience across all channels.

Ted Decker, chairman, president and CEO, said, “In his role as president of our online business, [Boggi] brought data-driven innovation and value to the millions of customers and suppliers who use our website and mobile app. I look forward to his leadership and expertise as we continue to remove friction from our customers’ interconnected experience.”

Home Depot, which sells online and in stores to professional contractors as well as consumers, is No. 4 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest online retailers in North America.

Anne-Marie Campbell, senior executive vice president for outside Pro sales, The Home Depot.

In another senior executive change, Home Depot named Ann-Marie Campbell as senior executive vice president for outside Pro sales efforts as well as the retailer’s installation services business, the company said in its 2024 Proxy Statement. She will also continue to oversee Home Depot’s U.S. stores and operations and its Canada and Mexico business units.

Home Depot has also established a base for growth in building supplies by closing recently its $18.25 billion acquisition of roofing supplies company SRS Distribution, which operates an ecommerce site at RoofHub.pro. The home improvement retailer says SRS will expand its total addressable market by to approximately $1 trillion, an increase of $50 billion.

“SRS is an excellent fit for The Home Depot – it’s both complementary and additive to our growth,” Decker said in a statement announcing the acquisition.

Getting beyond sales declines

For Home Depot, the changes come at a crucial time. For its most recent financial quarter, the fiscal first quarter ended April 28, the company reported a 2.3% year-over-year drop in net sales to $36.42 billion. For the fiscal year ended Jan. 28, 2024, it said revenue 3% to $152.7 billion.

In the role of executive vice president of customer experience, Boggi will be responsible for “leading the vision, design, and development of new and innovative solutions to drive a seamless experience for the millions of customers who turn to The Home Depot for their home improvement projects – in stores, online, or on mobile devices,” the company says.  Boggi will retain leadership of the company’s ecommerce business as president of online, overseeing online operations, merchandising strategy and customer experience for the retailer’s digital properties.

Boggi has also served as senior vice president of finance, where he was the primary finance partner to the company’s U.S. business and was responsible for planning, forecasting and guiding execution of the company’s P&L and capital plan.

In addition, he held roles across merchandising finance, supply chain finance, financial planning and analysis and strategic business development. Prior to joining the company, Broggi held various positions in finance and strategy at LexisNexis and Bain & Co.

How Matt Carey transformed Home Depot

Matt Carey, who was most recently executive vice president of customer experience, will retire from the company on December 31, after 16 years with the company. Until then, he will continue to serve as an executive vice president in an advisory capacity.

Matt Carey, former executive vice president, customer experience, who will serve as an EVP in an advisory role until he retires on Dec. 31.

In announcing his planned retirement, Home Depot said Carey “led the transformational efforts to re-imagine all aspects of The Home Depot’s IT infrastructure and approach to software development. Under his leadership, The Home Depot successfully built the technology infrastructure of an advanced retailer including store mobility, price management, auto-replenishment, global sourcing, interconnected retail, advanced analytics and much more.”

Decker added: “Matt leaves a legacy of exceptional accomplishments that have helped The Home Depot evolve to meet the changing needs of our customers. Since he joined the company in 2008, he has spearheaded an enormous technology transformation across our stores, supply chain, merchandising and digital presence.

“Today, The Home Depot is one of the largest truly interconnected retailers in the world. The Home Depot is a better company because of Matt’s tremendous contributions.”

Home Depot, which sells online and in stores to professional contractors as well as consumers, is No. 4 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest online retailers in North America.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Underpinning a 20.7% rise in ecommerce sales year over year, Gary Millerchip, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Costo, listed gold bars and silver sales as significant drivers. Meanwhile, appliances and electronics played key roles as CEO Ron Vachris, who stepped into the role in January, said Costco warehouses have seen returning interest to discretionary purchases in categories such as toys and health and beauty products.

Those warehouses saw two new openings during Q3, both in the U.S., with two more than have since followed in Loomis, California, and Nanjing, China. Millerchip said Costco expects to open 12 new locations in 2024, with nine of those in the U.S., plus “two in Japan and one in Korea.”

Costco is No. 6 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Digital Commerce 360 categorizes it as a mass merchant, a group that also includes Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc. and Target Corp.

Costco ecommerce sales in Q3

“Total ecommerce sales growth in the quarter was led by gold and silver bullion, gift cards and appliances,” said Millerchip during Costco’s Q3 earnings call, according to a transcript published by Seeking Alpha.

In other metrics, Millerchip pointed to increased activity across Costco’s website and apps.

“Our app downloads were up 32% versus a year ago with about 2.5 million new downloads in the quarter, bringing total downloads to more than 35 million,” he noted. “Site traffic was up 16% and average order value was up 8%.”

In addition, Millerchip said the retailer’s curated marketplace, Costco Next, added eight new vendors during Q3, as the total number of vendors in the marketplace reached 75.

Asked about buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS), which Costco refers to as “buy online, pick up in warehouse,” Vachris described a focused effort for expanded offerings with electronics as a priority.

“Right now, we’re rolling out an expanded buy online pickup in warehouse that is always going to be limited in scope based on the volume in our warehouses that we have,” Vachris explained. “We can’t expand to all categories, but we’re expanding as we currently speak in televisions and other electronic items that are there as — and so yeah, we see that as a real opportunity for us.”

Deliveries and Uber Eats

Meanwhile, delivery picked up during the quarter, with Millership citing a 28% rise in volume year over year, with appliances driving order fulfillment through Costco Logistics.

Costco has also expanded its work with Uber, which Millerchip briefly addressed.

“Previously, Uber Eats delivered Costco orders in Texas and this new agreement allows consumers the ability to order from Costco through Uber Eats across all of Canada as well as 17 states in the U.S.,” he stated. “We are also working to expand this partnership to several of our international countries in the coming months.”

Millerchip said Costco will also begin selling Uber gift cards globally, while providing Uber One membership discounts to Costco members.

Signs of growth in discretionary spending

In a quarter that saw announcements of price cuts from retailers such as Target and Walgreens, Millerchip acknowledged an optimistic outlook on inflation with some price cuts happening in Costco’s warehouses as spending returned to discretionary categories.

“As inflation has leveled off, our members are returning to purchasing more discretionary items,” said Millerchip. “And growth in the category was led by toys, tires, lawn and garden and health and beauty aids.”

Vachris elaborated on customers’ spending habits, crediting Costco’s buyers and saying that although “categories such as the home division and toys are categories that have lagged quite a bit post-COVID,” Costco’s buyers have “rejuvenated those categories.” He cited “sporting goods,” “furnishings” and “domestics” as other discretionary areas seeing renewed sales.

As for price reductions Millerchip mentioned specific cuts for Costco’s Kirkland Signature pine nuts and Kirkland Signature frozen shrimp. However, he framed Costco’s larger strategies for cuts as targeted and not broad.

“We believe our strategy of delivering value to drive unit volume and member satisfaction is the winning combination for us,” he said. “In that vein, our buying teams are constantly aware of changing costs across all of their SKUs and are ensuring that we are capturing all cost decreases quickly so that we can pass on incremental value through price reductions.”

Growing Costco’s retail media network team

Asked about innovation and other changes coming out of his first full quarter as Costco’s CEO, Vachris cited Costco’s retail media network operations as an area where he sees potential.

“We have a significant program now with retail media and we see some great upside potential,” he stated. “We’ve expanded that team and we see some good potential and some good runway for us in that as well, things like personalization and so forth.”

Specifically, he cited “a great opportunity for data,” as an area where other retail media networks are seeking to differentiate themselves, leveraging first-party data to target ads.

Costco earnings

For the fiscal third quarter ended May 12, 2024, Costco reported:

• Net sales increased to $57.39. That was up 9.1% from $52.60 billion in the third fiscal quarter a year prior.
• Costco’s net income in the quarter was $1.68 billion. That was up from $1.30 billion the previous year.
• Costco ecommerce sales increased 20.7% year over year.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s update.

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Total revenue declined 5% to $1.3 billion year over year, the athletic apparel retailer said. Wholesale revenue declined 7% to $850 million, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue was flat. Ecommerce revenue decreased 8%. Ecommerce sales made up 43% of total DTC sales in the quarter.

Meanwhile, revenue from stores owned and operated by Under Armour grew 7% year over year. The retailer reported net income of $7 million, and an operating loss of $4 million.

“Amid a challenging retail environment in fiscal 2024 that included high inventories and a consistent drumbeat of promotions — we demonstrated disciplined expense control and delivered results that were aligned with our previous outlook,” said Under Armour president and CEO Kevin Plank. “We also maintained a strong balance sheet, closing the year with a solid cash position and healthy inventory levels.”

Under Armour is No. 99 in the Top 1000. The Digital Commerce 360 database ranks North America’s leading online retailers by their web sales.

Under Armour fiscal 2024 revenue

The retailer’s full-year results were similar to its Q4 report. In fiscal 2024, Under Armour total revenue declined 3% to $5.7 billion. 

Wholesale revenue declined 7% to $3.2 billion, and DTC revenue grew 3% to $2.3 billion. Under Armour ecommerce accounted for 41% of fiscal 2024 sales and grew 1% year over year. 

Net income was $232 million, with an operating income of $230 million.

Revenue from apparel made up the largest portion, down 2% to $3.8 billion. Revenue from footwear declined 5% to $1.4 billion, and revenue from accessories declined 1% to $406 million.

Plank outlined initiatives underway at Under Armour to improve the retailer’s ecommerce sales.

“The digital goal is to transform our ecommerce business into a significantly more premium platform over the next 18 months. This includes improving our online merchandising, creating a more engaging brand-building environment that encourages our consumers through compelling products with a clear story of why it will make them better,” he told investors. 

The changes will include fewer online promotions and a more streamlined design, he said.

Under Armour restructuring plan

After announcing declining revenue, Under Armour introduced a plan to turn things around. 

“Due to a confluence of factors, including lower wholesale channel demand and inconsistent execution across our business, we are seizing this critical moment to make proactive decisions to build a premium positioning for our brand, which will pressure our top and bottom line in the near term,” Plank said. 

“Over the next 18 months, there is a significant opportunity to reconstitute Under Armour’s brand strength through achieving more, by doing less and focusing on our core fundamentals: driving demand through better products and storytelling, running smarter plays like simplifying our operating model and elevating our consumer experience,” he continued.

The restructuring plan will cost between $70 and $90 million, the company said. About $15 million of that cost will go toward severance and benefits for laid-off employees, it said without sharing any further information.

Another $35 million will be related to other changes in the company, it shared. Up to $40 million will go toward facility and software charges.

Going forward, Under Armour’s plan is to “simplify, modernize, and optimize” the company, Plank explained. That includes paring down the product lineup and refocusing primarily on men’s athletic apparel, he added.

Other changes at Under Armour

In March, Under Armour replaced CEO Stephanie Linnartz with founder and executive chairman Kevin Plank. He previously served as CEO from the company’s founding in 1996 until 2019.

“For nearly 30 years, Under Armour has focused on inspiring athletes with industry-leading performance solutions they never knew they needed, and once they’ve tried them, can’t imagine living without,” Plank said in a statement at the time his appointment was announced. “As the company continues to navigate several post-pandemic consumer, industry, and brand-specific factors, we are working hard to reconstitute our strengths and make thoughtful, balanced business decisions to drive enduring success for athletes, customers, and shareholders. I am energized about the team we have put into place and look forward to seizing the opportunities ahead.”

Under Armour earnings

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, Under Armour reported:

• Under Armour revenue decreased 5% to $1.3 billion.
• Net income decreased to $7 million from $171 million in the year-ago quarter.
• Under Armour ecommerce revenue declined 8% to make up 43% of DTC revenue.

For the nine months ended Dec. 31, Under Armour reported:

• Revenue decreased 3% to $5.7 billion from the year-ago period.
• Net income declined to $232 million from $387 million in the prior-year’s period.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s Under Armour ecommerce update.

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The post Under Armour shares restructuring plan as Q4 and 2024 revenue decline appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The retailer has had a tumultuous year, acquiring Bed Bath & Beyond and Zulily, relaunching Overstock, and making several high-level executive changes. Now, its brands all operate under one parent company, Beyond. In 2024, Beyond is focused on building up a portfolio of profitable brands, it said.

Beyond Inc. is No. 63 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Bed Bath & Beyond ranked No. 47 before its bankruptcy. Overstock.com previously ranked No. 50.

What happened to Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond?

Overstock bought Bed Bath & Beyond’s intellectual property for $21.5 million in June 2023 after the retailer filed for bankruptcy. In August, Overstock relaunched the Bed Bath & Beyond ecommerce website and later changed its name to operate under Beyond, Inc. In March, it also acquired Zulily.

Zulily was previously owned by Qurate Retail, which ranks No. 18 in the Top 1000.

“We are now 120 days into this new era for the company, building a foundation that will cause the next 10 years to look materially different from the last 10,” Beyond executive chairman of the board Marcus Lemonis said in a written statement.

“That foundation consists of three powerful brands: Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, and now Zulily, and we believe each of them has the potential to become a billion-dollar-plus revenue brand in its own right,” Lemonis explained. “That foundation requires us to have the right team, the proper brand positioning, and the most efficient process to profitably grow.”

Beyond Q1 results

In fiscal Q1, Beyond reported revenue grew 0.3% to $382 million. For comparison, net sales declined 28.9% year over year in Q1 2023.

Active customer count increased 26% year over year to 6.0 million, and the retailer delivered 2.2 million orders, an increase of 27%. 

Meanwhile, Beyond recorded a net loss of $74 million in the quarter. That compares to a $10.3 million loss in the same period of 2023.

“We’re pleased with the growth in active customers and transactions during the quarter,” said Adrianne Lee, chief financial and administrative officer. “However, in analyzing the profitability of that growth, we are making the strategic decision to focus on investments to launch these brands and acquire customers with a higher probability of repeat behavior.”

The retailer will also continue the cost-cutting measures introduced in Q4, with the goal of reducing $45 million in expenses annually.

Beyond’s Overstock relaunch in Q1

The retailer relaunched Overstock.com in March, six months ahead of the original schedule. At the time, Lemonis called the discount furniture retailer a “silver bullet” for the company.

Beyond said it had to start from scratch to create Overstock, because the platform it previously ran on was given to Bed Bath & Beyond in the fall.

The relaunch came only at the very end of Q1, but early results are “encouraging,” Lemonis said. He added that Overstock is in discussion with “one of the largest liquidators in America.” He also sees an opportunity for Overstock in reverse logistics as it works with its vendors to facilitate domestic returns.

“We believe that if we can be part of improving their supply chain for the vendors on the back end, which is where the game is often won or lost, we’ll have found another way to monetize the Overstock brand again in an asset-light way,” Lemonis told investors.

Overstock also changed leadership during Q1. Dave Nielsen, who became CEO of Overstock in February, previously served as interim CEO of Beyond during the retailer’s search to fill the role. Nielsen held several other roles at Overstock, including president and chief sourcing and operations officer.

Previous CEO of Overstock Jonathan Johnson stepped down in November as the retailer rebranded under the new name.

Other personnel changes

Beyond announced more new members of its leadership team in the earnings call.

They are:

• Guncha Mehta, chief digital and information officer
• Stacey Shively, chief merchandising officer, Bed Bath & Beyond
• Angela Minor, chief marketing officer, Bed Bath & Beyond
• Deb Bollom, chief merchandising officer, Overstock
• Steph Whitacre, senior vice president and general manager, Zulily
• Jennifer Evans, senior vice president of marketing, Beyond, Inc.
• Alexis Callahan, vice president of investor relations and public relations
• Chris Peake, director of merchandising, Zulily

Beyond earnings

For its fiscal Q1 ended March 31, Beyond, Inc. reported:

• Revenue increased 0.3% to 382 million.
• Orders delivered grew 27% to 2.2 million.
• Net loss was $74 million, up from a loss of $10.2 million in the year-ago period.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports.

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DavidBoone_Staples

Essendant Inc., a multibillion-dollar distributor of business and industrial supplies, has a new interim CEO.

The company named David Boone as interim CEO to replace Harry Dochelli, who is retiring. As he steps into the new role, ecommerce will be a major focus.

Who is Essendant’s interim CEO?

Boone joins Essendant from Sycamore Partners. There, he has been working as an operating partner since March, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Before Sycamore, Boone was the CEO of Staples Canada and also has worked as executive vice president for partnerships and shared services at TD Bank USA and as senior vice president national wholesale club division for Loblaw Cos., a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners, as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel.

Ecommerce focus at Essendant

As a company, Essendant places a growing emphasis on ecommerce. “As part of our company strategy we are going to be much more focused on our role in ecommerce,” says a company spokesperson.

Essendant defines its online sales as sales processed through its thousands of online wholesalers and resellers — many of which use the company’s technology and services to operate their own ecommerce sites to sell to resellers. In addition, it provides fulfillment services to end customers. To do so, the company relies on its own network of distribution centers.

In recent years, Essendant has been expanding its product line beyond its traditional office and janitorial supplies — and looking to expand ecommerce.

“While not a household name, Essendant (and subsidiaries) counts almost all major retailers, the country’s largest B2B businesses, ecommerce platforms and many major brands as partners,” Boone wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I’m looking forward to advancing our mission of ‘The Better Way to Commerce’ making omnichannel selling easy through our 3PL, wholesale and ecommerce platforms for our customers.”

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Dan Annunziata, head of commercial, Uber Freight

Just ask Dan Annunziata, whom Uber Freight recently hired away from third-party logistics services giant CH Robinson to fill the new role of head of commercial, focused on strengthening strategic relationships with shippers.

“Uber Freight has a compelling value proposition for shippers of all types: long gone are the days of the perceived digital startup,” he said earlier this month when taking his new position.

Along with Annunziata, Uber Freight also announced the appointment of former Amazon, Walmart and Chewy logistics and parcel delivery executive Hany Elkordy as its new head of logistics, last-mile solutions.

Investing in AI amid talk of an IPO or sale

The two executives follow several other strategic hires at Uber Freight, a business unit of ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. In addition, in recent months Uber Freight has invested in AI-powered logistics management technology and started a pilot rollout of a logistics scheduling application programming interface, or API, for the Uber Freight transportation management system in accordance with the Scheduling Standards Consortium’s Technical Standard.

All of these activities coincide with reports last month by Bloomberg and other news organizations that Uber Technologies was considering spinning off Uber Freight through an initial public offering of stock or a sale of the freight unit.

But Uber made no mention of a possible sale or IPO along with its recent personnel and technology announcements.

Focusing on strategic partnerships with shippers

The company says Annunziata’s “primary focus will be on unifying the commercial, sales ops and solutions organization to deliver end-to-end solutions, broadening and strengthening Uber Freight’s position as a strategic partner for shippers.”

“Uber Freight is a global enterprise with more than 5,200 employees and a formidable presence in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Europe,” Annunziata says. “Our capabilities span from 3PL and transportation management services to capacity solutions across truckload, LTL, IMDL, and cross border.” (LTL and IMDL stand for less-than-truckload and intermodal.)

Hany Elkordy, head of logistics, last-mile solutions, Uber Freight

In his new role, Elkordy will “spearhead parcel modality enhancements and expansion, working closely with product, operations and technology teams,” Uber says.

When it announced AI projects last fall, Uber Freight said it had invested $120 million since 2021 to provide better visibility into and control of logistics operations through technology designed for “scaling enterprise applications that span logistics software solutions, generative AI and data-enabled insights tools, as well as innovative capacity and mode expansions.”

Launching Uber Freight Exchange

Uber Freight also launched last fall Uber Freight Exchange, which is designed to expedite freight procurement cycles and shipment processes. Shippers can use Uber Freight Exchange to run auctions with their own carriers in addition to Uber Freight’s network of 100,000 carriers across the U.S.

Among its AI developments, Uber Freight has unveiled Insights AI, a generative AI-powered tool designed to help logistics management teams work with “more complex, strategic analyses” when making logistics management decisions. “Insights AI will leverage LLMs (large language models) to generate and surface insights from Uber Freight’s vast store of transportation data for customers.”

The company is also working with AI and machine learning to “drive network optimization and service improvements at scale” through ETA (estimated time of arrival) and PLA (probability of late arrival) applications. Uber says these tools are designed to help drive “automated self-healing workflows to improve shipper service.”

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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