DSW, a leading branded footwear and accessories retailer, is steadily paving its road to customer-centricity. Focusing on customer engagement and brand loyalty has sparked DSW on its customer-focused journey.
During the company’s third-quarter financial results call on Tuesday, President and CEO Mike MacDonald discussed the company’s road to customer experience success.
MacDonald turned to DSW’s customer-centric focus.
“Over the past 12 months, DSW has also made significant inroads in becoming even more customer-centric in the way we operate,” he explained, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. “Customers now have visibility and access to our full assortment of choices regardless of how and where they are shopping. We have also launched new technologies that make it easier for online customers to shop and pay for their purchases. There are many more improvements to be made to create a 
seamless and relevant shopping experience for DSW customers, but we are pleased with our progress to date.”
In the third quarter, MacDonald pointed to progress on a number of fronts.
“Most obvious improvement area was our sales performance,” he said. “After posting a negative 3.7% comp in Q1 and a tenth of a percent comp in Q2, we rebounded to a plus 2.6% comp in Q3. Our sales performance strengthened across all major footwear categories. In a critically important women’s footwear area, we had a plus 1% comp increase which represented a turnaround from the negative comps we saw in the first two quarters of the year. Comps were solid in the seasonal categories and in dress footwear. We distorted our inventory position in boots to grow that category at an accelerated rate. So far that plan paid off with the category increasing plus 6% comp in the quarter, driven by both tall boots and booties.”
DSW’s third-quarter sales rose 5.8%, to $670 million. The company opened 21 new stores for a total of 37 new locations this year. This included five small format stores and brings the total to 431 stores in operation at the end of the quarter.
Growth remains DSW’s No. 1 priority. The company expects to spend $105 million on capital expenditures for the full year, with cash going into new stores and remodels, and the balance going into omni-channel investments and other business projects.