Customer Experience Has American Eagle Flying High

American Eagle CX Customer experience is such a key component for every loyalty marketer in today’s marketplace.

American Eagle has turned things around and registered its fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth.

“In the second quarter we’ve reached record sales and delivered the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth,” American Eagle Outfitters Interim CEO Jay Schottenstein said during the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Aug. 19, according to Seeking Alpha. “In a tough retail environment, both American Eagle and Aerie achieved significant sales and earnings growth, and we see momentum continuing into the third quarter. Our efforts to create a better overall customer experience, strengthen our process, and gain efficiencies have created the underlying foundation for improved results.”

Schottenstein believes the American Eagle brand has an opportunity to become the No. 1 casual American lifestyle brand across the globe.

“Despite a high level of competition, we are performing well,” he said. “Chad Kessler and team have done a great job and we will continue to raise the bar and strive for consistency over the longer term. Aerie presents an incredible growth and opportunity, which I believe can double in size over the next several years. Under Jen Foyle’s leadership, the brand has gained very good traction. We are enthusiastic about the intimates market and believe Aerie is unique, differentiated and perfect for today’s young woman. Aerie is poised for growth much like American Eagle felt early in its history.”

American Eagle’s digital business is strong, Schottenstein said, with mobile sales accelerating at a rapid pace.American Eagle CX

“Recent investments are delivering nice returns,” he explained. “Our upgraded new app, better technology and omni-channel tools are driving incremental sales and providing the platform for future growth. Digital is a growth lever as we pursue expanded product lines and open our U.K. sites this quarter, the first step in the broader plan for global expansion. We have made great strides in a short period of time and are extremely optimistic on our future. We have two of the best positioned brands in the marketplace today. We have vast opportunities to expand the reach of our brands and grow through global and digital expansion.”

Jen Foyle, Global Brand President, Aerie said that the second quarter exceeded expectations. Same-store sales rose a whopping 18%.

“We saw positive growth across all store formats and our digital business was especially strong,” she said. “The average unit retail price unit per transaction and average dollar sales all increased. Aerie’s traffic was also nicely positive, clearly about the mall traffic as we continue to gain new customers. Merchandise margins expanded with fewer markdowns and we continue to strengthen the bottom line delivering higher profitability. We were pleased with the strength across the business. The best categories included bras, undies, swim, and soft dressing. We delivered newness, innovation, better quality and improved value. We are building on categories like accessories and beauty, and we are exploring additional ways to surprise and delight our customer.”

Foyle said the Aerie Real campaign has been extremely well received by customers.

“It’s truly a point of differentiation,” Foyle explained. “We are excited to re-launch the campaign this month, featuring Emma Roberts as our first Real celebrity. Emma was a natural choice for Aerie. She is a confident, independent spirit like the Aerie Girl. On the store front, we are growing our side-by-side store counts, where we continue to see strong results in both Aerie and adjacent AE store. Our new modern store formats are performing extremely well. As Jay mentioned, I want to reiterate the tremendous growth and opportunity for Aerie and I look forward to continuing current momentum.”

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing