Coming off a less-than-stellar fourth-quarter fiscal performance, New York & Company CEO Greg Scott wants to take customer engagement to another level.
“We plan on continuing our investment in marketing to create a deeper emotional connection to our brand,” Scott said during the company’s March 19 fourth-quarter earnings conference call, according to Seeking Alpha.”
What’s more, the brand expects to leverage actress Eva Mendes more this year as the “cornerstone” of its marketing initiatives.
“She will be the face of key marketing events including Easter, Mother’s Day, Fall Fashion in August, the anniversary event in September, and our holiday event in the fourth quarter,” Scott said, adding that this year the delivery cadence of the Eva Mendes collection will increase to 10 from seven in 2014.
While the company’s fourth-quarter results were in line with updated guidance, Scott wasn’t pleased due to the “challenging promotional environment in retail as well as the sales and expense headwind we faced driven by the disruption at the West Coast port. In addition to these challenges, we also experienced soft demand for seasonal products including outerwear, sweaters, scarves, and hats, which when combined with the product delivery delays put further pressure on sales and increased promotion.”
During the fall season, Scott said the company reaped benefits from its investment in omni-channel, “and we continued to expand our revenue stream through our growth initiatives in ecommerce and outlet with the added benefit of a more stabilized store base in our core New York & Company stores.”
The fourth quarter marked the brand’s third consecutive quarter of positive traffic trends in its core New York & Company stores along with its ecommerce business, “and we believe that the evolution of our product offering will enable us to reach more customers and have existing customers shop with us more frequently.”
Scott said New York & Company has traditionally targeted wear-to-work apparel for women between the ages of 25-45 with high quality, great trending fashion at affordable prices.
“We have made a name for ourselves by being best at pants, selling an extended range of sizes and lengths that fit a women’s body,” he explained. “In fact, according to NPD’s most recent updates through January 2015, New York & Company is ranked No. 1 in the women’s specialty non-denim pant market in the 35-to-45 age group and ranked No. 3 in the broader 25-to-45 age group. We see a significant opportunity to extend this strength into denim and active bottoms.”