Express CEO David Kornberg said that customer experience will be a key priority for the company in 2015.
Kornberg, who has been CEO for a little more than a month, made his comments during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday.
Kornberg said the intent is to provide an exceptional experience across all touch points and become a “truly customer accepted company.”
He added: “We know from a third-party study that 70% of buying decisions are influenced by the customers’ experience with the brand,” according to Seeking Alpha. “We also note that we have the opportunity to create a deeper and more engaging customer experience.”
Comparable sales slipped 2% during the fourth quarter.
Kornberg also touched on the company’s use of promotions.
“They have been part of the Express DNA and they will continue to be,” he explained. “All-store promotions and CRM, for example, will each remain in our arsenal; however, they will be used more sparingly going forward. We have structured in many of our future promotions to be more targeted and, at times, less deep and less frequent. This will help us to communicate a clearer value proposition to our customer. The benefits we saw from this approach in Q4 will carry over into 2015 and will be an integral part of returning the company to profitable growth.”
Kornberg stressed that this doesn’t involve a shift in strategy.
“Our four pillars of growth continue to be the key areas of focus for our team,” he said. “What will be somewhat different is how we think about advancing them to return Express to predictable, sustainable, and profitable growth. First, we intend to increase our revenue base across all channels. We expect to return our retail stores to positive comps as we deliver stronger assortments and increase our connection with the customer through our high impact marketing. Our outlet business will continue to grow as new stores are opened. We are also planning for ecommerce to grow faster than last year as we build out our ecommerce offerings and improve site functionality.”
What’s more, Kornberg said the company plans to expand international business by opening additional franchise locations and adding franchise partners to bring Express to other parts of the world.