For Vera Bradley CEO Robert Wallstrom, the company’s first-quarter results were frustrating because they don’t reflect the work being done related to many customer engagement initiatives.
“We continue to make progress on our key initiatives,” Wallstrom said during the company’s June 3 conference call, according to Seeking Alpha. “It is frustrating to us that the progress we have made is not reflected in our current financial results. It is evident that our overall business trends remain difficult. We are not attracting enough new customers to the brand and traffic and sales are still very challenging. Our market initiatives will continue to accelerate throughout the year with our first significant investment in conjunction with Mother’s Day at the end of first quarter.”
First-quarter sales fell nearly 10%, to $101.1 million, compared to $112.2 million for the same period last year. But Vera Bradley continues to listen to its customers.
“Let me take just a minute to let you know what customers are telling us,” Wallstrom said. “We have conducted several surveys and focus groups with both lapsed customers and those that have never shopped with us. The results were not surprising. Many of these consumers associate Vera Bradley only with quilted cotton bags and overall interest in traditional quilted cotton products is not as strong as it used to be. She wants us to scale back on, but not eliminate our cotton offerings. She wants solids and new fabrications. She wants trendy and stylish, and she wants us to distribute our products in more locations where she frequently shops for bags, like department stores. Once they are shown our assortments, these consumers overwhelmingly have a favorable reaction to the new fabrications and products we are offering. They are just not aware of our new offerings, which reinforces that we need to generate more exposure and brand awareness.”
Despite the disappointing quarter from a financial perspective, that’s not slowing Vera Bradley officials at all.
“We will continue to innovate and modernize our products, increase exposure to our brand and offerings by prudently growing our distribution points, including department stores, and drive brand and product awareness through our elevated marketing efforts,” Wallstrom added.