Earnings Labs

Destination XL Group, Inc. (DXLG)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Fri, Aug 23, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Destination XL Second Quarter 2013 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jeff Unger, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Jeffrey Unger

Management

Thank you, Jamie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Destination XL Group's Second Quarter Conference Call. On today's call is David Levin, our President, Chief Executive Officer; and Dennis Hernreich, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, we will discuss some non-GAAP metrics to provide investors with useful information about our financial performance. Please refer to our earnings release, which was filed this morning and is available on our website at investor.destinationxl.com for an explanation and reconciliation of such measures. Today's discussion also contains certain forward-looking statements concerning the company's operations, performance and financial condition, including sales, expenses, gross margins, capital expenditures, earnings per share, store openings and closings and other matters. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those assumptions mentioned today due to a variety of factors that affect the company. Information regarding risks and uncertainties are detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now I'd like to turn the call over to David Levin. Thank you, David.

David A. Levin

Management

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. The second quarter was very important from a strategic perspective for our company, as we implemented our first national marketing campaign for Destination XL. The campaign was a success from many perspectives. We launched the 6-week campaign on May 5 to define the DXL brand more clearly, expand market awareness and grow our active customer base. The comprehensive marketing campaign included TV advertising, as well as a radio and digital marketing mix. Our TV ad, which emphasizes the problems big & tall men having in finding a broad selection of styles and that Destination XL offers them a convenient 1-stop solution, aired on cable networks. These included ESPN, USA, PBS and Comedy Central, just to name a few. Let me share with you some data points and a few key areas to give you a sense of just how successful the campaign was. First, let's look at comp sales. Our overall DXL store comp sales jumped to 28.8% in Q2 of 2013 from 17% a year ago. Looking specifically at DXL stores that have been opened for more than a year, our comp was an impressive 16.5%. Given that for the past several quarters, our comp in that category had been relatively flat, our 16.5% comp demonstrates the effect that the marketing campaign had on our retail stores. We said many times on prior calls that we are pleased with the performance of our DXL stores given the lack of marketing. Now that we have a sufficient number of stores to rationalize a national marketing campaign, we're starting to see how these stores can really perform. I'd like to note that our TV ad had no promotional call to action to prompt any short-term purchase behavior. We achieved our strong comps on pure…

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. In my prepared remarks, I will first provide a synopsis highlighting the company's results for the second quarter then give you an update on the company's progress and what's still to come with respect to the transformation to the DXL concept and, lastly, provide some context around our updated guidance for 2013. In the quarter, our sales were $97.6 million compared to $100.5 million for the prior-year second quarter. Comp sales increase was 3.8% overall, of which 6.9% from the retail stores and a decrease of 9.8% in the direct business. We expect to end 2013 with a store count of about 366 stores after opening another about 39 DXL stores and closing another about 60 Casual Male and Rochester stores by the end of the year, which means we will have about 46 fewer stores than we had at the start of the year. Let me digress for a second and define what we mean by comparable sales. Total comparable sales for all periods include retail stores that had been opened for at least 1 full year. Stores that have been remodeled, expanded or relocated during the period are also included in determining comparable sales. Most DXL stores are considered relocations and are comparable to all closed stores in each respective market area. Therefore, those DXL stores are considered a comparable store upon opening. If the DXL stores are opened in a new market, however, of which we have 1 DXL store like that today, such DXL store is considered a comparable store until its 1-year anniversary -- is not considered a comparable store until its 1-year anniversary. Direct businesses are included in the calculation of comparable sales since we are a multi-channel retailer. With that said, sales from our retail business…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we'll go first to Christina Brathwaite with Sidoti. Christina Brathwaite - Sidoti & Company, LLC: So I was just wondering, first, on store openings, I know that you guys accelerated store openings towards the end of the second quarter. How do you think it will happen in the second half? Is it going to be even, or do you think it's going to be towards the fourth quarter?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

There's going to be a nice number in the third quarter, but the number is going to be bigger in the fourth quarter. Christina Brathwaite - Sidoti & Company, LLC: Okay. And then -- sorry?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Yes. I was going to say you'll see something like 10 to 15 stores in Q3 and the balance, some 20, 25 in the back -- in the fourth quarter. Christina Brathwaite - Sidoti & Company, LLC: Okay. Are you still -- in August, are you still seeing higher traffic than usual? At DXL, there hasn't weaned off since July -- since the July bump?

David A. Levin

Management

I think the best way to say this is our sales trends have continued to be the same. We really don't want to talk about Q3 yet, but the DXL stores continued to perform on their current trend. Christina Brathwaite - Sidoti & Company, LLC: Okay. Great. And I know, David, you mentioned that you guys are going to take some actions to change the Internet sales performance. What kind of actions are you guys talking about?

David A. Levin

Management

Well, we're -- again, we're not ready to discuss that. That's in the process of being laid out right now. It's changed from what our current strategy was originally planned. But I think the main focus for us is to convert existing Casual Male customers who have not yet shopped in a DXL store. There's still a high percentage of our core Casual Male customers who have yet to been in a DXL store, so that is going to be a huge focus for us -- is finding the right message/promotion. I mean, whatever it's going to take, we're working on it. We have several tests going on right now that are giving us optimism that we're going to be able to raise that conversion rate.

Operator

Operator

And we'll take our next question from Jack Bowles [ph] with Focus Research.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

Regarding your promotions in sales and marketing going into the second half of the year, you also mentioned that you had a reduction in pricing promotions. How important is that in terms of generating sales? And do you expect that to continue in the second half?

David A. Levin

Management

Yes. Well, as I mentioned, I think this is a very important point. We're not out there banging away discounted messages to get customers in the store. That's very short term with no long-term commitment from our customers. We have done extensive testing and researching that promotions are a short-term fix for our top line. But over the course of 4 to 6 months, those customers are coming in regardless. And when we analyze the return on investment of those customers, coupons are not going to be the answer. We certainly need coupons to move certain types of customers into our store, but we have the advantage right now of really building the brand awareness because once these customers are in the store, they're spending more than they ever had. And again, for our -- I think one of the best metrics that we've delivered is the increase in the average ticket from the DXL stores from a year ago. A year ago, we were putting out a lot of coupons out there trying to get these customers in the store, and we're finding it's much more effective just to build the brand awareness. They like what they see. And once they come in, we can raise that average ticket and you can see our merchandise margins, even for the back half of the year, are going to increase over 100 basis points from last year.

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Just to add to that, even after considering the reduction in pricing promotions, we're expecting an overall comp increase in the second half of 10%.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

Okay. Will the new promotions through November be any different than what you have just completed?

David A. Levin

Management

We're running the same campaign again. We do have the advantage of -- having 7 of our stores, who are in the test markets, instead of having 6 weeks of the ad campaign with the TV, actually had 12 because they were in the test markets. And we saw that the ones that got the second boost of the same marketing message, their comps were slightly better than the rest of the chain. So we have a high degree of confidence that the second wave of this commercial, on a national level, is going to be as strong as it was in the first half.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

And just to clarify, did you say that going 12 weeks does not make any difference versus going 6 weeks?

David A. Levin

Management

No. What I'm saying is that the comps that the test markets had, when they -- when we ran the second flight, their comps were consistent with the first group. So there was no -- they got a second boost of comp sales increase, which is very encouraging for us. So running it again should have the same type of power of market awareness and traffic into our stores as the spring campaign.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

I assume that this -- that the second that goes through November, that's the complete one. There's no special advertising for December?

David A. Levin

Management

No. We have -- we're running 7 weeks in October and into November.

Operator

Operator

And we'll take our next question from Mark Montagna with Avondale Partners.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Just a question on that additional week, is that additional week at the front end or at the back end of what you original planned for marketing?

David A. Levin

Management

It's going to be the front end, so it will actually start the end of September.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Okay. And then, merchandise margins are up really strongly, pretty impressive. And so, I'm wondering, are you seeing an increase in your inventory turn at the DXL stores? And what was the sales per square foot at DXL in second quarter of this year versus last year?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Yes. Well, the turn in DXL stores is much better than the turn in any of our other stores. So, yes, we are seeing a nice increase in the turn as you would expect in our DXL stores. The sales per square foot in the second quarter -- well, on an annual -- running on an annual basis, Mark, it's at about $170 per square foot, so it's on the uptick.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Yes because I think you ended last year at $154 or so?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Yes.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Okay. And then, have you gotten any feedback on why e-commerce did not see a positive comp, either through, I don't know, focus groups or just some sort of analysis because I'm kind of surprised that it didn't become positive?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Yes. We had a tremendous boost in traffic into the web, 80%. They just didn't -- they weren't coming in to buy yet. And I think that we attribute it to -- and as David said, we're on the trail of a number of improving the conversion tactics on the web. Of course, when a customer goes into a DXL store, he's met visually with the tremendous assortment organized by lifestyles and met -- and then is met by an experienced, friendly wardrobe consultant to help engage in the overall experience, right. And no surprise, the ticket in the DXL stores is on the uptick, further increasing in this quarter. You don't quite have that engagement on the web. And, two, new people coming into the website, guys -- what we're learning more and more, the guys first time into the web are not really inclined to buy off the web for the first time, more comfortable first going to the store, getting familiar, trying it on, sizing it up and in the future buying from the web. So we think, Mark, in the long run, the traffic into the web will better convert. We're going to try and do things to help that conversion, but I think we just have to be patient, cycle through the drop in the catalogs. And as we said, we expect to cycle through this and see improved sales performance in 2014.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Do you think part of it could be since you're cutting back on catalogs? I'm sure there's a good amount of people who look at the catalog and order online.

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Oh, certainly. Absolutely. So there's a natural drag on the web resulting from cutting back on the catalog.

David A. Levin

Management

Yes, I think that, again, only being down, whatever, the 9.8%, considering that tremendous drop in catalog is fine. And again, the loss coming from the -- we -- again, we anticipated a higher percent of customers converting, coming into the web, but the traffic is there. And I think over the next 12 months, it will improve on the conversion.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

And what is the last date that the catalog mailer will go out?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Well, we've already seen that...

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Oh, you've already finished killing it?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Yes, we -- yes. And now, the catalog customers won't not see anything from us, they're going to get a reminder in a way of a smaller 16-, 20-page kind of brand -- we call it a brand mailer, which will remind him of our most compelling, updated fashion statements for the fall season, which we think, and having tested this, many of them take that and, as you said, Mark, go to the web with that. And so, we expect to continue to transition our hard-core catalog guy over to the web over a period of time.

Mark K. Montagna - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Okay. And just lastly, with the TV commercials, have you done focus groups where you can measure that, that guy who's 40- to 46-inch waist understands that that's who's being targeted by this commercial?

David A. Levin

Management

Absolutely. In our -- in all our focus groups, we had -- we divided it into 2 groups. So between the 40- and 46-inch waist and the 48 and above. And this -- the success of the commercial is really based on that end-of-the-rack guy connecting with this commercial because he clearly -- as we said with the statistics, we're starting to get him in. He is younger. He actually -- his income is higher. He shops more often. He likes more brands. And I think that's also 1 of those indicators as why our average ticket is up over 23% over a year ago.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We'll go next to William Florida with Advisory Research.

William Florida

Analyst

Just a question about the store locations. If I think of those in 3 groups, there's the new stores that had been opened more than a year, there's the stores that are opened but don't have a year yet and there's the new stores coming. And is there any measurable difference in these stores qualitatively? Are the quality of locations different? Are the size of the stores different in any way? Could you just talk through how the store openings and the comps may evolve?

Dennis R. Hernreich

Management

Yes. Good question, Bill, but really, there's no general -- as I think as you know, generally, the DXL stores are edging slightly smaller than they've been in previous years. But really, otherwise -- but that really doesn't take away from their performance, and that's why they've gone smaller. So really, the openings that are coming up in the second half don't have any special, unique, different characteristics than the stores that we opened in the first half or that we've opened in, say, 2012. And so, I wouldn't expect, nor should you, to see any difference in their performance relative to the stores that we've opened in the last 12 months.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And at this time, I'm showing no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back to management for any additional or closing remarks.

David A. Levin

Management

Okay. Well, again, thank you, all, for being on the call. As always, if you had not yet been into 1 of our DXL stores, we strongly encourage you to make that visit. And you could give us a call if you'd like to find out about a certain store. If you'd like a tour, we'll do anything to help you along on that first trip. And finally, we look forward to speaking with you on the next quarter. Thank you very much for joining us.

Operator

Operator

And again, that does conclude today's conference. We do thank you for your participation.