Genesco leader Mimi Vaughn highlighted key initiatives for its Journeys business during the company’s earnings call on Friday.
According to Vaughn, president, chief executive officer and chair, these plans – which include a mix of both strategic acceleration and expense management – were devised to place a sharper focus on a turnaround program and growth strategy.
First up, the CEO noted that Journeys is implementing new strategies led by its recently appointed chief merchant Chris Santaella to “meaningfully increase” product access and boost investment in key fashion athletic and casual brands.
“This includes diversifying and adding new key styles with our existing partners, increasing our leadership position with all our key brands, enhancing in-store social and digital exposure to build awareness with our customer to shop Journeys for these brands, and working to add brands beyond those we’re traditionally known for,” Vaughn said.
New product is key for Vaughn’s plans to work. The CEO added on Friday’s call the company’s core items continued to underperform in the fourth quarter due to changing consumer demand. But the renewed focus on adding newness to Journeys should set the stage for more significant progress for back-to-school and holiday.
“We’ve got ample open-to-buy to chase the product that we will bring in during the course of the year,” Vaughn said. “We had a chance to be able to push back more inventory that didn’t work to our brand partners who’ve been exceptional in working with us, and are excited about being able bring new styles in. We will feed into some of the trends like clogs and the fashion athletic that we see a lot of appetite for.”
Along with new product, Genesco’s second initiative is aimed at intensifying the company’s efforts to build and promote Journeys as an industry-leading retail brand. Under this goal, the retailer is working to evolve its all-access loyalty program as well as developing plans for an updated store concept and next-generation design. To execute this idea, Vaughn said the company has hired a new creative agency to develop a new brand communication strategy.
“We plan to roll this out in the back part of the year along with an updated brand mission, vision and purpose,” she said. “In parallel, we’re improving Journeys’ brand presence and upgrading the customer experience with quick actions in both stores and online, including refreshed messaging and visuals that tell a cohesive brand story across channels and social.”
Next up, the company is also aiming to leverage the expertise of its store employees by introducing new capabilities, including mobile point-of-sale and buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) to improve efficiency and customer engagement. Plans to further improve employee training and execution and roll out additional features like data-informed suggestive selling will also be implemented under this initiative.
Finally, Journeys will continue to focus on driving operational and cost efficiencies. “We’re implementing several initiatives here, including continued efforts to optimize the store footprint, closing unproductive stores, and redirecting traffic and sales, while strategically opening mall and off-mall locations and prioritized optimization projects focused on selling salaries, rent expense, inventory management, and digital marketing spend efficiency,” Vaughn said.
These renewed plans for Journeys comes as Genesco reports its fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2024 earnings results on Friday.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, the Nashville-based footwear company reported net sales of $738.95 million, an increase of 2 percent from $725 million in the same period last year, benefited by the additional 14th week. Excluding the 14th week, net sales in the quarter dipped 2 percent.
As for the full fiscal year 2024, net sales decreased 2.5 percent to $2.32 billion from $2.38 billion in fiscal 2023. Excluding the 53rd week, sales would have decreased 4 percent for fiscal 2024.
