Earnings Labs

Designer Brands Inc. (DBI)

Q3 2017 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 21, 2017

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello and welcome to DSW’s third quarter, 2017 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I now will turn the conference over to Christina Cheng. Ms. Cheng, please go ahead.

Christina Cheng

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to DSW’s third quarter conference call. Earlier today, we issued a press release detailing the results of operations for the 13-week period ended October 28, 2017. Please note that various remarks made about the future expectations, plans and prospects of the company constitute forward-looking statements. Results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements due to various factors, including those listed in today’s press release and our public filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements. Joining us today are Roger Rawlins, Chief Executive Officer; and Jared Poff, Chief Financial Officer. Let me now turn the call over to Roger.

Roger Rawlins

Analyst

Thanks, Christina and good morning. I am encouraged by our progress on the initiatives we are pursuing to differentiate and grow the DSW brands. Our third quarter results give us confidence we are on the right track. Let me share a few highlights. Our DSW merchandising team drove a low single-digit comparable sales increase in footwear despite challenging weather conditions across the entire country. Our power stores are significantly outpacing the balance of our chain. Our DSW kit sales exceeded our expectations. Our lab store in Columbus continues to post robust results to validate our new store design and we started testing new services as part of the re-launch of DSW’s loyalty programs. At Ebuys, we completed the consolidation of the new fulfillment center and continue to clear out a sizable amount of slow moving inventory. This has pressured their performance during the quarter and based on our results to-date, we have tempered our long-term expectations for Ebuys. As such, we have reduced the carrying value of goodwill and intangible assets as well as the remaining earn-out liability. Let me turn the floor over to Jared to discuss our third quarter performance and our outlook for the remainder of the year.

Jared Poff

Analyst

Thanks, Roger and good morning. Third quarter revenues increased by 2% to $708 million driven by flat comparable sales at the DSW segment. Our third quarter performance brings our year-to-date top line to $2.1 billion, a 2% increase with modest store expansion and acquisition revenue partially offsetting a 1% comp decline and lower ABG revenues from our planned exit at Gordmans. Third quarter reported earnings of $0.05 per share includes net non-cash charges totaling $0.40 primarily related to the impairment of goodwill and intangibles associated with Ebuys. Excluding these GAAP items, adjusted earnings were $0.45 per share compared to $0.51 per share last year. Year-to-date, adjusted earnings were $1.14 per share compared to last year’s of $1.26 per share. The rest of our comments will refer to adjusted results. Let’s start with the Designer Shoe Warehouse segment, where sales increased by 2% on flattish comps. Comps exclude our two locations in Puerto Rico, which remain closed due to Hurricane Maria. We opened 6 new warehouses and closed two locations for a total of 514 warehouses at the end of the quarter. Footwear comps increased in the low single-digit range. Accessories declined in the low-teens. Mostly comps were consistent with softness during the middle of the quarter as temperatures turned unseasonably warm during our important September and October boots selling period. With the onset of more seasonal conditions, sales have improved starting with the back half of October. While we were disappointed with this slowdown our conservative boot position and inventory liquidity gave us flexibility to manage receipts and end the quarter at 3% per square foot below last year. Success of hurricanes negatively impacted comps by approximately 50 to 60 basis points. Outside of Puerto Rico, we fortunately incurred minimal property damage and our emergency readiness program enabled our field…

Roger Rawlins

Analyst

Thanks, Jared. Last quarter, we shared DSW’s new mission to inspire self expression with external audiences such as the Street, our vendor partners and the retail industry. Our comprehensive end-to-end distribution capabilities across all 5 of our brands like DSW, one of the few growth platforms in a tough retail environment. We have begun to showcase the full scope of our integrated enterprise to our vendor community and are actively working to identify ways we can elevate their brand and reach a broader market through our retail portfolio. Today, I would like to provide an update on progress we have made on three strategies that support our missions. First, as we mentioned last quarter, we are launching a new loyalty program called DSW’s rewards VIP, which will offer new services and perks products to over 25 million rewards members. Apart from normal purchase activity, members can earn points by downloading our app, writing reviews or even making a shoe donation. Premier members will be provided early access to new trends and product releases ahead of other customers. We are also excited to be introducing new services as part of a differentiated experience. These include elevated mail services, custom-made installs that provide comfort and cushioning at accessible prices, repair and refurbishing of shoes and handbags, shoe storage and rental. With these offerings, we will create an elevated value proposition that fulfils our customers’ complementary needs. Our voice of the consumer research has uncovered a very strong interest in these services and we believe this new offering can give consumers a new reason to visit DSW, drive traffic and aid new customer acquisitions. We are gaining important insights in learnings while these services are under development and we will keep you posted on our progress. Second, we continue to be pleased with…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from Steve Marotta with C.L. King & Associates.

Steve Marotta

Analyst

Good morning, everybody.

Roger Rawlins

Analyst

Good morning.

Jared Poff

Analyst

Good morning.

Steve Marotta

Analyst

Just a couple of questions first. First of all, you mentioned a new fashion cycle in the middle of the call, can you go through that a little bit and what you are seeing obviously without disclosing anything that would be competitively disadvantageous?

JaredPoff

Analyst

Sure, Steve. This is Jared. I think you can see this across much of the apparel landscape right now where you are seeing a lot of resurgence back towards non-athletic denim resurgence by far and kind of a little bit more dressed up type of look than what we had seen, which was very heavy yoga pants and very casual lifestyle. So, when you see the comps that we are seeing at Abercrombie and even some of the comments from Gap and things like that, that’s what point to at that point.

Steve Marotta

Analyst

I understand. And you also mentioned that the test store rollout, there would be four additional earlier in 2018, can you talk about how quickly you might be able to roll that out assuming that these forego as anticipated?

RogerRawlins

Analyst

Yes, I think, Steve, this is Roger. I think the first half of next year is our goal for the four and then we have got to take some time to read it. We have had great results here in our lab store, but honestly, we are all in there every single day. So, we want to make certain this is something we can take two markets where we are not all engaged in at everyday and we see the same kind of results and then we have the ability to move pretty quickly one, because we have the capital, but also operationally, we have been over time that we know how to remodel and open stores quickly when we need to.

Steve Marotta

Analyst

Okay. Lastly, can you please quantify exactly how much the 53rd week is in sales and EPS if you did that, my apologies I didn’t get it?

RogerRawlins

Analyst

Yes. Steve, we typically haven’t given that specificity. What we have said is that if you take the fourth quarter and generally divide that by 13, you can assume it’s relatively average there and a pretty similar flow through rate other than we will see some benefit on some of our fixed cost leverage that comes through there.

Steve Marotta

Analyst

Okay, great. I will jump back into queue. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Jeff Van Sinderen with B. Riley FBR.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

Good morning. Maybe you can just give us a sense of the penetration in athletic and athleisure this year versus the same time last year and given the strength of that category although it sounds like it’s shifting a little bit with the fashion cycle. I am just wondering how you are planning that for spring?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

I think Jeff we have continued to see growth there and I don’t think we have disclosed the exact penetration percentage here. Do we?

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

Yes, we said it was around a third and that’s we are there again for the third quarter. That’s a few ticks higher, a few percentage points higher than where we were last year, but we are about a third of the penetration?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

But as we head into next year, we think there is continued growth here one, because we are way under-penetrated to market share compared to the balance of our assortment. So, we believe there is still – there is still headroom there for us.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

Okay, great. And then eventually kids business staying really strong, just wondering if there is anything more you can share on I guess the penetration of that business, where that is now and then as you are growing that next year, how do you think about that longer term has sort of how big that could become as a part of your overall business?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

We think so highly that we are accelerating the next phase. So, our goal is maybe with the exception of one or two doors to have this in the chain for back-to-school. And that was not our roadmap when we have started this journey. So, we feel really good about the direction, but as far as penetration, I think it provides an incredible opportunity for us to build a relationship with our consumer in a different way than we have in the past. And we shared this before, but when we see a customer start their journey with DSW, when they are 18 to 20 years old and over their lifetime, we see a significant dip in adult footwear purchases in that window of time when they bring children into this world. And so yes, this is about growing kids, but it’s also about keeping that consumer throughout their entire lifetime and that’s the work that we are seeing kids paying off for us.

Jared Poff

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

I would add to that we are seeing the hypothesis play out and we shared this last quarter, where we have stores that have kids and we have not removed adult footwear to fund that space. We are seeing an overall lift to the store, because what Roger said they are continuing to buy just the kids product, but the adult product and that’s the basis that we are using for the rollout. I will also mention we were very excited to see with the anniversary of our Phase 1 rollout, those same stores and kids products were comping in the high-teens with that kids category. So, we think there is a maturity curve similar to new stores and there is more upside even for the stores that are laughing.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

Okay, good to hear. Thanks for taking my questions and best of luck for holiday.

RogerRawlins

Analyst · B. Riley FBR.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Dylan Carden with William Blair.

Dylan Carden

Analyst · William Blair.

Yes. Hi, how are you? Can you just speak to the weakness in accessories and remind me whether or not that category is subject to certain same inventory management and merchandising strategy for same prices in footwear?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · William Blair.

Yes. Our real challenge in accessories of late has been around the handbag small leather good categories and the hosiery stock kind of area, we are actually very pleased with kind of results we are getting. So, there is some work that we have to do as we mentioned on the last call we have made some organizational changes there. We do not see this turning around until the first half of next year. So, there is some work that we are doing to improve the direction, but a lot of it is, it’s in that handbag areas where we are really experiencing the softness.

Dylan Carden

Analyst · William Blair.

Okay, great. And then just unpacking sort of the weakness at Ebuys in the foreign outlets being sort of questions on scalability as it sounds like, is another capacity there to sort of fund that or sort of fuel that business with DSW product. Is that something that you are kind of taking a more viewing?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · William Blair.

That’s exactly what we are doing. So, trying to figure out ways that we can take goods that today we are selling not just the DSW, but at Town Shoe Company, Shoe Warehouse all of our other brands that we engage with day in and day out and how do we liquidate that excess inventory or inventory growth that’s at the end of its lifecycle through the marketplaces. And so we are trying to focus our efforts there rather than going out and taking large inventory risks the way that we had in the first half.

Jared Poff

Analyst · William Blair.

Yes, Dylan. And I would add I am glad you brought up those two subjects, when I look at the quarter and kind of assess what was working and what we had challenges with. And I can point to the fact as Roger mentioned, our footwear comps positive, they get obviously core piece of what we do comp positive of the strategic initiatives that we are counting on for our future strategic growth as Roger mentioned in his comments, all performed at or better than our expectations. We have got two areas that our biggest challenge is right now and that’s accessories and the EBuys and with the accessories as you know we have a new GMM that started a few months ago and she is tackling that head on and with Ebuys as we mentioned we have taken some medicine on the balance sheet and we are trying to right-size that business and get it back to how it fits into the overall DSW Inc., portfolio. So kind of a tale of two cities, but I am pretty excited for what’s going on in the core business, which is the footwear side.

Dylan Carden

Analyst · William Blair.

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Paul Trussell with Deutsche Bank.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Hi, this is [indiscernible] on for Paul. So you spoke always about the cold weather with the boot business. Could you just speak to improvement you have seen moving into 4Q and do you see the kind of more temperate weather, colder weather improving in that business and besides that what other businesses do you see for growth prospects for 4Q and moving into the next year?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

That’s great question. So, for us in our business that October time period that is really our holiday. I mean, that’s when we really make – make progress. And in the early part of August and the late part of October when weather was more seasonable that became something that was really driving our business. So, we actually had positive comps and we saw real strong performance with the boot category and that’s where we have opportunity as the weather continues to remain the way that it is right now that creates upside for us in fourth quarter compared to how we performed in third quarter. When we had the very warm weather that hits in that September – late September, early October time period, we were running significant negative comps and it was sort of the tale of two cities. Throughout the quarter, the each month was relatively flat, but embedded within those months, there was real volatility that we could see clearly day-in and day-out that was driven by the weather.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Thank you.

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

You are welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Patrick McKeever with MKM Partners.

Patrick McKeever

Analyst · MKM Partners.

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Just a question on the all the competitor store closings both in the department store space but also in some in specialty footwear, I am wondering if you think that had much of an impact one way or the other on sales in the third quarter either on the negative side with some of the liquidation sales or perhaps on the positive side with some of the store closures. And just where do you think we are in the cycle there and how are you thinking about the market share opportunity as fewer stores – as there are fewer stores out there? And then my second question is it is also on the boot business and just how much of the business right now would you say is sensitive to the weather and how much is more fashion-driven and on the fashion side, what are some of the call-outs in terms of trends? Thanks.

RogerRawlins

Analyst · MKM Partners.

Yes, Patrick, I will start with the competitive landscape. I think we have been very I think transparent in our view and we give you some of the analogy of ice melting. That ice we think the temperature continues to get churned up and people are being pressured in and are taking actions that I do think impacts all of retail, but we continue to see that we are grabbing market share and the footwear category at least the data that we have – that we have seen has been challenged and has not been growing over the last, I would say rolling 12 months, but yet we have. And so we feel pretty good about our direction, I will tell you though for us it comes back to our mission, vision and strategy and how do we leverage the warehouse capabilities that our brand offers that others do not have the capability to deliver on, how do we leverage our rewards program with our re-launch that I mentioned in our opening comments, and then how do we take customer-facing kind of technology that allows us to engage differently with the consumers. We are doing those things. We believe in the direction we are headed with DSW, the brand regardless of what’s happening in the competitive landscape. And our results I think demonstrate that for the core DSW brand. So, I think we feel pretty good about the direction we are headed with DSW. From a boot perspective, boots is our largest category when you are in the fall season, it is also our highest margin category and we have got it figured out and that’s the challenge we have given to our merchant team that despite the weather they still got to figure out how we get sales and I think you are going to see us perhaps think differently about how we weatherproof can’t say that you can completely weatherproof the business, but how do we engage differently during these periods both in spring and fall both on sandals and all boots in the fall season.

Patrick McKeever

Analyst · MKM Partners.

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Scott Krasik with Buckingham Research Group.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Hi, guys. This is Mike only on for Scott. So, core merchandise margins were down roughly 100 basis points so now how that compared to your original expectations for the quarter and the drivers and then I guess what you expect for merch margins in 4Q?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Yes. So, Matt gross margin was down as I mentioned and I would say that was mostly in line with expectations. We did have a little bit of reactionary add-back of some marketing promotions when we saw the slowdown in that very important boot category. So, that came at somewhat of an incremental hit, but overall it was relatively in line with what we were expecting. For fourth quarter, we are expecting merch margins to be down again a little bit to last year about probably half the decline that we saw in third quarter, but we also are expecting some occupancy leverage as we have a 53rd week and so net-net we are actually expecting flattish to slightly up gross margins for the fourth quarter.

Jared Poff

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Yes, I will also share I think the margin challenge to LY that we faced in Q3 we had planned that, because we wanted to get much more aggressive than communicating to consumers who had not shopped us in a while. So going out there with different campaigns either direct mail or e-mail that would drive in active customers back into the DSW brand, I am real happy with the result that we get out of that. Now, we took some margin hit for that, but in Q3, we had our transactions actually increased in the mid single-digit range, so that was progress compared to where we were in Q2 or Q1. So, the investment we made in marketing is really what drove the challenge that we had in margins, but again two customers that had not been shopping us.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Okay, great. And then another one I guess you guys have kind of spoken to a more constructive Ebuys business going forward, would you be able to comment on your long-term sales and margin expectations for the business?

Jared Poff

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Right now, we are still kind of assuming that, that things don’t change dramatically for the fourth quarter. So, we have got it projected at relatively flattish sales for fourth quarter and basically flat gross – no gross margin and so therefore again a slight operating loss. I think longer term as Roger said, we are really trying to assess what the best way to fit them into the overall DSW Inc. infrastructure and you know that, that can be something that looks different, feels different than what we are operating at right now. So I feel a little uneasy trying to get really long-term views, but we have moderated what we had as originally assumed obviously, which is why we took the actions we did on the balance sheet.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Okay. And if I could just squeeze in one more, you guys spoken to the boot category a little bit here, just wondering when the business wasn’t performing as well in the beginning of October, late September. Did you guys start to delay or cancel orders for 4Q and then kind of aside from these past few weeks that’s at seventh, they have been doing good, what are your expectations for the back half of the quarter?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Matt, I think our team has reacted to the business appropriately. Our inventory is positioned based on sort of our outlook for Q4 and as we head into Q1, I think in a very good place not just in boots, but across the business, which is why our inventory was down roughly 2.5% per square foot. So, I think our inventories are actually pretty clean and even in the boot category despite some of the challenges we had kept open to buy. So, I think our team has done a really good job of managing through the inventory and we are more in chase mode now is how I would describe it and I would prefer us in that mode than the other way around as we sit here today.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Buckingham Research Group.

Okay, great. Thanks guys. Good luck for the year.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Chris Svezia with Wedbush.

Chris Svezia

Analyst · Wedbush.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a follow-up on that prior question, when you talk Roger about being able to chase or in chase mode, can you maybe talk to what categories or classifications we are chasing into and is that still in compass boots, you still have that given the churn in the weather and some favorability, you saw that capability to chase into that category for Q4 to build on maybe some comp and margin or not might be just a little more color about where you are chasing and how that’s thought as it pertains to your fourth quarter outlook?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Wedbush.

I would say there are two areas right now, where we are trying to be more aggressive in how we chase and one would be boots or as we head into spring obviously, sandals, because boots seasonal categories, they are so critical to the success of our business and we are for the most part one of the top two or three retailers for just about every major brand that plays in the boot category. So, when we can have a conversation with one of our vendor partners and say look, we have an opportunity to put more product in our warehouses get us product, they find ways to get us product. So, I like the fact that our merchant team is positioned to be able to chase. So, I would say boots is one. And then the other one is kids. I know we have left sales on the table in the kids category because it’s outperformed our expectations. I think also I have a little one at home and we have been challenged to find its size. So, we have had lots of conversations with our merchants to make certain that we are buying in the kind of depth that ensures that we are able to keep that product there for our consumer and looking for closed outs in both of those categories I think is an important part of what we are doing.

Chris Svezia

Analyst · Wedbush.

Okay. And as just to clarify is some of that thought process around chase factored into the flat to low single-digit comp for the fourth quarter?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Wedbush.

Yes. And when you think about the core women’s business has delivered positive comps now for two consecutive quarters. So I am going to say it’s not just the boot category, it’s everything that we are doing in women’s. We have had success with like we haven’t had in the last 3 years. So, all of those are going to be things that we are going to be able to pursue as we go through fourth to really drive comps.

Chris Svezia

Analyst · Wedbush.

Okay. Final question is just on Power 35, what’s the – I guess what’s the spread or the delta between I guess the overall DSW base and how those stores are performing and that thought around Q4 if you can add some color about that?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Wedbush.

Yes. So, if you replay back to where we were this time one year ago, those power doors were performing 4 to 5 points worse than the balance of chain. And we really got after those stores and I would say it was really in two areas. The first was around product. We could see when we visited those locations that we did not have the kind of product that the customer in those markets, were looking on a regular basis. And our merchant team went out and did one heck of a job and we have seen significant improvement in average unit retail there. That got us to the point where I would say at this time and it was in second quarter we started to see where they were about equal and while all of that was going on, our field organization was also looking at the talent there and really upgrading talent within each of those locations whether it was the manager or the entire teams that were in those locations. And we took talent that was in non-power doors and transferred them in to the power doors to really get the best foot forward with the consumer. And as we have headed through into – through third quarter and into fourth quarter those locations are now performing 4 to 5 points better than the balance. So, it’s essentially about a 10 point swing in a 12-month period of time. It’s exactly the challenge that we gave the team a year ago and they delivered. And so when we talk about why are we feeling good about our core DSW business, it’s because what we have learned with those Power 35 as we head into 2018, we are going to take that to the balance of our organization and so that’s the approach we are going to be taking and turn on some additional marketing, which we also think will help us drive.

Chris Svezia

Analyst · Wedbush.

Okay. Thank you very much and happy Thanksgiving to all.

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Wedbush.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the last question comes from Camilo Lyon with Canaccord Genuity.

Camilo Lyon

Analyst

Thanks. Good morning, everyone.

RogerRawlins

Analyst

Good morning.

Camilo Lyon

Analyst

A few questions here. Just finishing up on the boot and the chase topic, I think boots in general was planned down across the industry. Clearly, that started off slowly. Are you finding many partners that can fulfill that chase or you kind of sticking to the key supplies that have that ability to turn product quicker than most?

RogerRawlins

Analyst

We have – we found that there are vendors out there that have product that is available and again, because we hold a pretty strong position in the vendor community, we can make those phone calls and get product that might have been intended for someone that is much smaller that vendor will make the right decision and support us. I mean, that’s the strength of being number one or two player with those brands and that’s our expectation when we are working with our vendor partners.

Camilo Lyon

Analyst

Okay, great. And then just going back to the fashion ship comment, I thought that was an interesting comment. Could you parse out where across your store base you are seeing that fashion shift unfold first? Is this in that from a geographic perspective, is this more happening on the coasts and then starting to filter through to the middle of the country or are you seeing that from a broad-based perspective and I guess what types of areas within your full assortment are you impacting the most now?

RogerRawlins

Analyst

I really don’t want to get into the geographic where it’s located. We are not going to say we are really seeing an impact within our power doors and again having a significant increase in our average unit retail there is one indication, but it’s really across the non-athletic women’s categories is where we are seeing strong results and we are more excited about that, because frankly that’s not the result we have seen in the last 3 years and again we are going to chase after that. And by the way, margins turn to be a little bit better on the non-athletics, we like that as well.

Camilo Lyon

Analyst

Right, perfect. And then I think your services initiative is a very interesting, I know it’s very early days and I think you've only got them testing in your lab store, but from what you can tell now, from what you like to share, can you talk about how you view any sort of incremental margins that you might see in the services fulfilled store and as we think about the longer term potential of incorporating new services into your base, I am assuming that you can’t do everything to every store. So, is there a thought around as to how many of these services can really expand to the base and what kind of timeframe you would like to do this?

RogerRawlins

Analyst

Well, it’s a great question. So, I want to start first with how we landed here and Camilo I have really started with the voice of our customers. So, we went out to our rewards member base and said what are the additional services you would be looking for from a brand like DSW and that’s where we landed on rental repairs, storage, orthotics and actually Sunday evening we attended an event at our last store, where we opened or I should say getting ready to open our W Nail Bar. So, we will have mani and pedi stations setup there that, that we will be opening here in the next week or so. And that is an exciting opportunity for us to see how does our consumer react and when you merge that into our rewards program so that your footwear purchases earns you essentially discounts or rewards points toward other services we think that has an incredible upside to us. And I think if you are familiar with that industry, it operates at different margin rates in a very favorable way to what you do in footwear is what I would share with you. On the others, I think it’s too early to highlight exactly what the financials look like. Right now, we are trying to operationally figure out how we can execute it and we have started with our associate base first and then in early December, we will actually take it more to the public facing consumer rather than just internally, but that we think all of those services can provide a different reason for you to shop DSW the brand than you historically thought of DSW.

Camilo Lyon

Analyst

Fantastic. Good luck with that and happy Thanksgiving.

RogerRawlins

Analyst

Thank you.

Jared Poff

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the next question comes from Sam Poser with Susquehanna.

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I guess my first question is about Ebuys just I guess, beat this one a little bit more. I mean, you talk about your core business being really good -- starting to improve here. At what point, do you decide it may have been a mistake, it isn’t a core competency kind of thing you want to move on or in bigger picture is everything on the table right now in the decision-making big picture?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Yes, Sam I will say I think we went into this with a thought process that we could grow it aggressively and when I say aggressively in the 30%, 40%, 50% kind of range that was in our head, because bringing to bear the DSW product mix in those marketplaces again end of life product mix that we think that, that could really drive the business. And we have seen that, that works, that the product that we carry within our brands that at the end of lifecycle we can liquidate those goods and make more profit for DSW Inc., and that’s where I would say you are going to see more of our focus as we move forward.

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Okay, thank you. And then you talked about how the boot this October time period and how the boot business doesn't really match your back-to-school or holiday business. Can you talk to me about like when you look at the planning of it, is this just that the consumers switching to more buy now wear now, so basically you don’t need to bring your boots in until it’s a mid-October and you need to have more sneakers earlier than that or more sandals earlier than that. And then when you think about sandals with the exception of stores in the south, you really don’t need to get into that business until late March and rather than trying to convert in February?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Yes, Sam, I think its great question. I think as we headed into the fall season, we actually had boots planned significantly down throughout August and even early September. And I think frankly I think that was a bit of a mistake. I think we were too deep in the edits that we have made, but there is opportunity to sell in those windows, but it is what you just described, how do you hit we call it smile line for the sandal area and the front line for the boots, how do you get those earlier into the season without taking it to full chain and that’s work that’s our planning and allocation team is doing. So, I think yes there is a more buy now, wear now, but I think it’s our responsibility as retailer to make it certain we are getting that out there in the right markets and putting in front of the consumer and using digital to help drive some demand there.

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Thank you. And then lastly, your inventory on a forward basis is quite clean, but can you give us some idea of how that breaks out as you look to your accessory business has been challenged and you are doing a lot of these other new things, be it with a new testing due to the lab stores and the new services. Is this a situation where you just need to optimize your footwear business across categories and have accessories the exception and then improve the experience within again core competency footwear?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

I think you – no, you just answered your question, yes, that’s exactly the conversation that we have been having. Sam, we have talked about this, but I use the words focus and tempo a lot. We have got our merchants very, very focused on the footwear and the accessory thing we will get that righted, but right now it’s about continuing the momentum we have within footwear.

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

So, I guess the question is righted mean that your accessory business is half the size of what it is today and your footwear business eats up some of that real estate as well as services and so on?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Yes, I think…

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

What is right, it mean I guess?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

I don’t – I don’t see this being half, but I do think we are doing some work to say how do we reduce the choice count we had in some of the accessory handbag area in particular. And how do we create space and remember we only utilized about 20% of the cubic capacity of our warehouses. And that’s why we are so excited about the lab store. That location now has over 60,000 units embedded in one warehouse and it’s also got embedded in their services and it’s loaded with kids. And I still see just being there Sunday evening there is still opportunities, When we look, we didn’t have enough kids product in there. So yes, we are trying to find what’s the right balance between accessory handbags versus our core competency, which is footwear.

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Can you give us some idea of where those 4 stores are going to be in the spring?

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

We haven’t announced that yet Sam, but you will be the first person I’ll tell.

Sam Poser

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Thank you so much. Have a very happy Thanks giving.

RogerRawlins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And as that was last question, I would like to return the call to management for any closing comments.

Roger Rawlins

Analyst

Just I know we have lot of associates on the call. Thank you for everything you have done in third quarter and it’s going to be a great week this week and everyone have a happy Thanks giving.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.