Christopher & Banks Corporation sees boost in fourth quarter comparable sales

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Jan 15, 2019

Specialty women's apparel retailer Christopher & Banks Corporation has announced the first ten weeks of its fourth quarter comparable sales increased approximately 3 percent at expanded merchandise margin rates, compared to the first ten weeks of last year’s fourth quarter.

According to a press release, the company expects comparable sales to be positive low single digits for the fourth quarter, following a 5.7 percent sales comp increase in last year’s fourth quarter.

Additionally, Christopher & Banks said on-hand inventory is expected to be down mid-single digits, compared to the end of last year's fourth quarter.

“[We] saw our e-commerce business continue to accelerate, which we attribute in-part to our ship-from-store initiative," Keri Jones, the company's president and CEO said.

"We believe that our improved performance quarter-to-date was the result of new product resonating with customers, an enhanced in-store experience that made it easier to shop, compelling promotions, and our omni-channel initiatives. These results reflect the traction that we are starting to see from our strategic initiatives."

Jones went on to say that the company reaffirms its fiscal outlook for 2019 and continue to focus on its five strategic initiatives: enhancing and simplifying their customer's shopping experience; delivering compelling promotions; growing the company's omni-channel business; building loyalty and growing its customer file; and continuing to reduce its cost structure.