Lululemon Athletica Inc.'s chief executive is confident his company is well on its way to addressing some of the concerns customers and analysts had earlier in the year about a lack of newness in the brand's product assortment.
Newness — how fresh a brand's products and styles appear to consumers — is one of the key ways retailers draw in customers. Lululemon's product assortment this year has focused largely on its staples — yoga pants, scuba hoodies and sports bras — while the company also saw continued success with its belt bags.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a note to investors that he feels many of the newness issues"have largely been corrected." Its diluted earnings per share for the period ended Oct. 27 amounted to US$2.87 compared with US$1.96.McDonald said the results"exceeded our expectations" and reflected strength the company has seen in its shorts, skirts and leggings in seasonal colours.
In the latest quarter, however, there was weakness in the Americas, where Lululemon's comparable sales fell by two per cent.