Carrie Baker
Analyst · Bank of America. Please go ahead
Thanks Dani. Q3 marked a foundational transformation for Canada Goose as we executed with focus, discipline, and strategic intent. We saw meaningful progress across our operating imperatives, particularly in December and I'm excited to share the results. So, first let me start by discussing our first operating imperative, setting the foundation for the next stage of our brand and our product evolution. Our performance in the third quarter was shaped by our strategic decision to fully support the Snow Goose launch at the end of November, our biggest brand moment for the year. To do that, we deliberately concentrated our marketing investments in the second half of the quarter, which meant that we required than we normally would be in October and early November. As Dani mentioned, once we activated, our efforts delivered a remarkable improvement in brand momentum and commercial results across all regions and this continued through the end of the year. Our Snow Goose launch marked a sea change. It was a defining moment for us, not just for the quarter, but for how we move forward. Our campaign set a new standard, which showed up differently in all markets bolder, louder, and yet unmistakably true to our brand. And in doing so we've built a new muscle of executing engaging, immersive, and fully integrated global campaigns that drive real results. On the product front, our mix continued to evolve in the third quarter with lighter down field outerwear revenue growing year-over-year, particularly in December. At the same time, we saw robust growth in our apparel offering, which demonstrates our accelerating brand heat, confirms our relevance beyond extreme cold weather moments, and reinforces our position beyond outerwear. Bestsellers included the Grandview Cropped Jacket and Vest part of our new fall/winter 2024 collection and the beloved Chilliwack Fleece Bomber, which was a top seller within apparel. That product evolution continued this month with our expansion into eyewear, representing another milestone in our product journey. Eyewear is a natural next step for us, and we are bringing a uniquely Canada Goose perspective to the category, inspired by nature, designed with purpose and delivering function and style. The launch complements the momentum we saw in lighter down-filled outerwear, and apparel during peak season and it underscores our transformation into a brand, with year-round relevance and assortment for any market. Lastly, we strengthened our product leadership team in January, welcoming Judit Bankus as our new SVP of Merchandising. With nearly 20 years of luxury and fashion experience, Judit will oversee our global merchandising and pricing strategies from our London office. She will work closely with Haider Ackermann, in partnership with our design and product development teams to bring his vision to life, while guiding the expansion and the evolution of our product road map. One of the other key elements of our brand evolution is our Wholesale strategy. Bottom line is, it's working. We intentionally limited allocations, we invested with strategic partners with brand-aligned values and we executed brand-first activations. This drove higher sell-through rates year-over-year particularly in North America. It increased appetite for in-season reorders, and it means cleaner markets overall. Across the entire channel, we also saw wholesale partners holding to our full price positioning much more consistently in Q3, than last year. This is exactly where we want to be and this progress sets a strong foundation for our strategy going forward. Now, let me share some more detail about our second operating imperative, delivering best-in-class retail execution. As Dani mentioned, our DTC performance accelerated notably throughout the third quarter, with December delivering improvement in both brand momentum and commercial results, which have carried through present day. The intensity of our actions to improve conversion and productivity, started to pay dividends, despite the headwinds of lower traffic and macroeconomic pressures. In North America, we saw encouraging results with DTC comparable sales growing 3% in Q3 driven by strength in the US market. Our focus on streamlining retail operations, weekend staffing optimization and the introduction of host positions across key locations, drove meaningful improvements in customer engagement UPT AUR and conversion. During the busiest shopping season, when people's expectations are highest and their time is at a premium, our hosts were critical in not only managing key wait times, but in making sure customers were served with Canadian warmth and also were guided quickly and expertly to find the product they desired. In EMEA, our focus on improved execution delivered meaningful improvements in conversion rates, but not enough to offset the more challenging traffic trends. While broader market conditions led to slower foot traffic particularly in the UK. I'm proud of how our teams capitalized on every selling opportunity, driving higher conversion UPT and AUR, year-over-year. This is a direct outcome of our retail initiatives and training programs. In Asia Pacific, we saw positive momentum during key shopping periods including, Golden Week and Singles' Day, despite slower traffic in some markets. This momentum has carried into Q4 with positive trends around Lunar New Year. In Japan, we opened two more department store concessions and DTC for the quarter improved significantly year-over-year, as we continued to build into the demand in this important global market. Looking at our online business, while e-commerce-based headwinds in Q3 that impacted conversion, global traffic saw substantial year-over-year growth. We continue to believe this is a channel that can deliver stronger results, and are actively implementing initiatives to enhance the digital experience, improve site speed and drive improved performance. We are seeing some bright spots though. We launched live shopping on Douyin in September. And despite facing challenges in Mainland China, it continues to show promise as a new channel for us. And in North America, branded search demand increased approximately 20% in December pointing to the considerable growth potential as we continue to enhance our digital capabilities. This quarter was a defining moment for us and goes beyond strong commercial performance. We have proven our ability to execute complex global initiatives like Snow Goose, driving meaningful retail improvements and strengthening our position in the wholesale channel, all while maintaining brand discipline and full price positioning. This demonstrates not just the power of our strategy, but our increasing capabilities to deliver against it. As we look ahead it's clear these foundations will continue driving both brand heat and commercial momentum across all our channels. I'll now turn it over to Beth.