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spk11: Greetings and welcome to Hibbett, Inc.' 's first quarter fiscal year 2023 conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Gavin Bell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.
spk14: Thank you and good morning. Please note that we have prepared a slide deck that we will refer to during our prepared remarks. The slide deck is available on Hibbett.com via the investor relations link found at the bottom of the homepage or at investors.hibbett.com and under the news and events section. These materials may help you follow along with our discussion this morning. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that some of management's comments during this conference call are forward-looking statements. These statements which reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance
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spk14: are made in reliance on the safe harbor provisions of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and are subject to uncertainties and risks. It should be noted that the company's future results may differ materially from those anticipated and discussed in the forward looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause or contribute to such differences have been described in the news release issued this morning and are noted on slide two of the earnings presentation and the company's annual report on form 10 K and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We refer you to these sources for more information. Also, to the extent non-GAAP financial measures are discussed on this call, you may find a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on our website. Lastly, I would like to point out that management's remarks during the conference call are based on information and understanding believed accurate as of today's date, May 27, 2022. Because of the time-sensitive nature of this information, it is the policy of Hibbett, Inc. to limit the archived replay of this conference call webcast to a period of 30 days. The participants on this call are Mike Longo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Volke, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jared Briskin, Executive Vice President, Merchandising, Bill Quinn, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Digital, and Ben Knighton, Senior Vice President of Operations. I will now turn the call over to Mike Longo.
spk02: Good morning and welcome to the Hibbett City Gear Q1 earnings call. For those of you following along in the slides, I'm on the slide three entitled overview. During the first quarter, our team effectively executed our strategic plan and delivered comparable store sales and financial results in line with our expectations. Furthermore, our strong inventory position at quarter end gives us confidence in our full year guidance, which we are reiterating today. In review of the quarter, we delivered diluted earnings per share of $2.89. Comparable sales declined 18.9% versus the prior year, coming on top of an 87% increase in the first quarter of last year. Comparable sales increased 22.9% versus the pre-pandemic Q1 of fiscal 20. We delivered Q1 operating income this quarter of 12%. We are therefore reiterating our full-year comparable sales and diluted earnings per share guidance. Two key factors, income and inventory, impacted our Q1 performance and our outlook. The lack of stimulus this year versus last year caused the consumer to have less disposable income, and they decreased their spending year over year in Q1. The effect of last year's stimulus was mostly limited to Q1, and we believe is now substantially behind us. Our inventory increased by approximately $94 million during this quarter, with a significant portion arriving late in the quarter. As a result, we have improved our inventory levels in a number of high-demand products and are well-positioned to achieve our sales targets moving forward. We also remain on plan to open 30 to 40 net new stores in underserved areas with little or no competition. This approach has proven to be a significant competitive advantage for us, and our team remains disciplined in the site selection process. Moving on to slide four, we wanted to remind everyone of the sales growth and related financial performance improvement of our business over the past several years. While the last two fiscal years have been positively impacted by stimulus and changes to the competitive landscape, we have also steadily improved the underlying business model to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us. As a result, we generated solid quarter-over-quarter compound annual growth rates over the past several years. Importantly, we have structurally rebased our sales and profits at higher levels versus pre-pandemic levels, driven by improved execution, investments in the business model, investments in the consumer experience, new customer retention, and a stronger inventory position. As stated in this morning's press release, we believe that our best-in-class omnichannel business model, our best-in-class service in the stores, and our compelling merchandise assortment creates differentiation in the marketplace. provides us with a competitive advantage in the eyes of the consumer and our vendor partners, and puts us in a position to deliver strong sales and profitability results in the coming years. Before turning the call over to Jared, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate our approximately 11,000 team members across our organization, all of whom are committed to providing every consumer, vendor partner, and fellow team member with an outstanding experience every day. And I'm very proud of our entire organization in that we've been recognized on Newsweek's list of America's most trusted companies in 2022. The top 400 most trusted companies across 22 industries were chosen based upon an independent survey that considered three main public touchpoints of trust, the customer, the employee, and the investors. We're committed to working tirelessly to continue to earn that trust of all of our stakeholders. I'll now turn the call over to Jericho.
spk07: Thank you, Mike. Good morning. If you turn to slide five, merchandising. For the first quarter, overall performance was in line with our expectations across the merchandise category. As Mike mentioned, our Q1 sales came on top of tough comparisons the prior year due to stimulus and continued supply chain disruption, leading to an uneven flow of inventory. Footwear and apparel both declined in the teens compared to the prior year, while team sports and licensed products grew mid-single digits. All of which were in line with our expectations. We continue to believe that due to the impacts of COVID and stimulus during the last two fiscal years, compared to fiscal 2020, calendar 2019 is the most meaningful comparison. When compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2020, comp sales were up 22% and accelerated throughout the quarter. From a category standpoint, all merchandise categories grew double digits when compared to fiscal 20, except for team sports, which declined. Parallel accessories grew in the low 30s when compared to fiscal 20. Fleece, licensed products, underwear, and socks were the primary contributors of growth. Footwear grew in the high teens when compared to fiscal 20, as we were able to get a more favorable inventory position in our key franchises during the latter part of the quarter. Team sports declined in the low teens when compared to fiscal 20. Specific to footwear and apparel, men's, women's, and kids were all up double digits when compared to fiscal 2020. Women's growth was in the mid-60s, men's grew in the low 20s, and kids grew in the low teens. As Mike referenced earlier, we're very pleased that our inventory level ended Q1 at over $300 million, up $94 million from year end, and therefore are well positioned to drive results as we move into the second quarter. As I referenced in my sales commentary, we also believe the most meaningful comparison regarding inventory is comparing it to fiscal 20. Due to the delays caused by the ongoing supply chain issues, inventory levels to begin the year when compared to fiscal 20 were down in the low 20s. This improved throughout the quarter, and when compared to fiscal 20, inventory levels at the end of the quarter were up in the low 20s, in line with our quarter sales growth when compared to fiscal 20. Sales trainings, when compared to fiscal 20, improved significantly in the latter part of March and April and followed the track of our improved inventory position. Our results in the first quarter, combined with our strong quarter-end inventory position, continue to give us confidence that the strategic shift in our merchandising organization and our toe-to-head merchandising strategy are working in elevating how we serve consumers. I'll now turn the call over to Bob to discuss our financial results.
spk12: Thank you Jared and good morning. Please refer to slide six entitled Q1 FY23 results. We report our results on a consolidated basis that includes both the HBIT and City Year Grants. Before I discuss the first quarter fiscal 23 results, I'd like to remind everyone that stimulus funds in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 provided a significant boost to sales and growth leverage in a number of expense categories. As expected, the first quarter had the most difficult comparisons in terms of year-over-year performance. Total debt sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 decreased 16.3% to $424.1 million from $506.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 22. In looking back three years to fiscal 2020, the last relevant comparable period prior to the pandemic, current quarter sales of $424.1 million were 23.5% higher Overall comp sales decreased 18.9% versus the prior year and first quarter, when comparable sales increased 87.3%. In comparison to the first quarter of fiscal 2020, comp sales increased by 22.9%. Brigham and Mortar comp sales decreased 22% versus the same period in the prior year, and have increased by 116.9% on a three-year stack. E-commerce sales accounted for 14.6% of net sales during the current quarter, compared to 11.7% in the first quarter of fiscal 22, and 8.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 20. Gross margin was 37% of net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 23, compared with 41.4% in the first quarter of last year. mainly due to the combination of cost increases associated with the higher store count and the large year-over-year sales decline. A decline in product margin of approximately 150 basis points due to product and channel mix, and an increase of approximately 130 basis points in freight and transportation costs, primarily due to fuel surcharges and other accessorial charges. Store operating, selling, and administrative expenses were 22.5% of net sales, compared with 18.1% for the first quarter of last year. This approximate 440 basis point increase, again, is primarily the result of significant year-over-year decline in sales performance, in addition to increased costs of advertising, professional services, and general supplies to support a larger store base and increase e-commerce volume.
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spk12: Depreciation and amortization in the first quarter of fiscal 23 period last year, reflecting increased capital investment on organic growth opportunities and infrastructure projects. It generated $50.7 million of operating income for 12% of net sales in the first quarter, compared to $110 million for 21.7% of net sales in the prior year's first quarter. Diluted earnings per share were $2.89 for this year's fiscal year. did not have any non-GAAP items in either period. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $23.2 million cash and cash equivalents, slightly higher than the $17.1 million balance at the beginning of the quarter, although well below the $270.9 million we had at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 22. We have short-term debt of $20.4 million outstanding on our $125 million line of credit at quarter end, mainly as a result of our inventory bill over the past three months. Net inventory in this quarter is 314.9 million, a 42.3% increase from the beginning of the quarter, and a 72.6% increase from the same period last year. Capital expenditures during the quarter were 16 million, consisting primarily of store development, technology, and infrastructure projects. To the end of the first quarter, we opened a net nine stores comprised of nine new locations, one rebrand, and one closure. In the first quarter, we repurchased just over 491,000 shares under our authorized share repurchase program for a total cost of approximately $22.4 million. Before I review our full year fiscal guidance, Bill Quinn will discuss a few consumer insights.
spk06: Thanks, Bob. Good morning, everyone. Entering into Q2, we are continuing to keep a pulse on how our customers are feeling in general. Through recent customer research, our customers are concerned about inflation They believe that rising inflation will have a general impact on their discretionary retail spending. However, customers have stated a reluctance to reduce spending on specific athletic brands, which comprise the majority of our assortment. Looking at the behavior of our customers versus calendar 2019, we are seeing two fundamental differences. One, our customer base has grown. And two, the average unit retail has increased substantially. We see these two factors as structural in nature, keeping our business baseline above pre-pandemic levels. Turning to our e-commerce business, comparable sales increased 4% year-over-year in Q1, and 1,117% versus calendar 2019. E-commerce represented 14.6% of total sales for the quarter. We're very pleased with our growth over last year. There were three key drivers. One, improved inventory. Two, increased traffic to our website and app. Three, improvements to our digital customer experience. Our online business is growing, and we expect to continue to see high single-digit to low double-digit growth in the upcoming quarters. To fuel this growth, we are particularly focused on the customer experience. Q2 will be a record quarter for the number of initiatives focused on the digital and omni-channel customer experience. Now I'll turn it back over to Bob Holtby to discuss our guidance.
spk12: Line 8 summarizes and reiterates the fiscal 2023 guidance consistent with what we provided on our last call. Total net sales are expected to be relatively flat compared to fiscal 22, applying comp sales are projected to be in the negative low single digits for the year. Comp sales are projected to be in the negative low teen range in the first half of the year, followed by high single digit comp sales in the back half of the year. Our sales forecasts are based upon assumptions that as the year progresses, supply chain constraints continue to ease time with inventory receipts becomes more consistent and predictable, and our overall inventory position remains strong. Net new store growth is estimated in the range of 30 to 40 stores, with new units spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Fiscal 2023 gross margins as a percent of sales are anticipated to be in the range of 36.6% to 36.9%, down from the results of fiscal 22, although above pre-pandemic levels. Potential supply chain challenges, freight headwinds, higher rates of e-commerce sales and carry a lower margin than brick and mortar sales, inflationary pressures, and deleverage of store occupancy will all contribute to this anticipated decline. We continue to believe gross margin results in comparison to fiscal 22 will become more favorable as the year progresses. SG&A's percent of net sales is projected to be in the range of 23.3% to 23.6%, higher than fiscal 2022 levels, although also favorable to pre-pandemic levels. Wage inflation, deleverage or fixed costs driven by relatively flat sales expectations, and annualization of back office infrastructure investments be making fiscal 22 our drivers of this anticipated SG&A increase. Similar to gross margin, we feel SG&A comps will become less challenging in the back half due to an expectation of an improving inventory position and a more favorable sales environment. Operating income is anticipated to be in the low double-digit range as a percent of sales. Diluted EPS is estimated to be in the range of $9.75 to $10.50 using an estimated full year tax rate of 24.5% and an estimated weighted average diluted share count of $13.5 million. Capital expenditures are projected in the range of $60 to $70 million with a focus on new store growth, remodels, and additional technology and infrastructure investments. Our capital allocation strategy continues to include the expectations that we will repurchase shares throughout the year and pay recurring quarterly dividends. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.
spk11: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, you may press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Sam Poser with Williams Trading. Please proceed with your question.
spk13: Excuse me. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I have a handful here. Number one, you mentioned, I think, Jared, you mentioned that your business accelerated from March to April. um how how much of the overall trend i mean when you look at what happened was inventory versus stimulus and um you know have you seen momentum i mean did you go positive in april did you have you seen you know and what's going on uh so far in may and i know you'd only talk about it but these are strange times
spk07: certainly strange times indeed. I think what we referenced, first and foremost, the trend that we referenced in the acceleration was to compare back to fiscal 20. And as I mentioned on inventory, we began the year at a pretty significant decrease compared to inventory levels from fiscal 20. As we were able to That acceleration really occurred in the back half of April. It didn't in the back half of March. It ended in April. February was fairly difficult compared back to fiscal 20 due to the lack of inventory to start the year.
spk03: And compared to last year, can you give us some idea of how things look?
spk07: Yeah, again, Sam, we're not going to comment on our individual period flows by month. Again, I think the best way to really look at the business is to compare it back to fiscal 2020. And we did see significant acceleration at the end of the quarter.
spk13: OK. And then, Bob, you mentioned that the merge margin got hit by 150 basis points due to mix. But can you sort of, you know, give us some idea of maybe, you know, what the merchant margins look like, um, within e-commerce and within, uh, brick and mortar, um, you know, not, not percentages, but sort of, you know, basis point improvements within, you know, how that balance.
spk07: Yes. And I'll start. A couple of impacts there, first and foremost, a lower penetration of some high-Q product due to the challenges in inventory in the early part of the quarter. Certainly, the mix towards a higher e-commerce penetration did have an impact. But I would like to make sure that we recognize that we have rebased product margin as our product margin
spk13: Um, you know, can I just follow up on that? I mean, I really wanted to understand like your e-commerce more. I know the mix takes it down, but what's your e-commerce was your store gross margin up like, like up year over year and your e-commerce margin up year over year. But because e-commerce was just a larger percentage of sales or stores were less presented sales, it, it, it drove the margins down.
spk07: Justin, we were down year over year. Again, a lot of that was the impact of the reduced inventory and some of the lack of high heat product early in the first quarter, which is typically what drives Q1 product margins. But again, as I mentioned, we significantly rebased compared to this one.
spk04: Understood. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line
spk11: of Justin Kleber with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your question.
spk05: Hey, yeah. Good morning, guys. Thank you for taking the question. Just as we look at the, at your low-teens comp guide for the first half of the year, that implies 2Q down around 5% to 10%. If I look historically at your business pre-pandemic, 2Q revenue normally drops sequentially know more than 20 percent from the first quarter which which obviously implies a much steeper decline in comps you know than the implied guidance so i guess my question is why would normal sequential seasonality in your business not hold this quarter hey good morning it's jared um you know certainly uh
spk07: The normal sequential comps are certainly challenged with what we've gone through within the last few years with regard to COVID and stimulus. We're not going to comment specifically on Q2. What I will call out is, first and foremost, Q1 didn't meet our expectations. As we mentioned, we're very confident in the inventory position, especially related to the sales acceleration that we saw during the quarter compared to fiscal 20, and we reaffirmed our practices.
spk05: Okay, thank you for that. Jeremy, would you go as far to say 2Q is also shaping up in line with your expectations, given you reiterated the guide?
spk07: I brought up a comment specifically on Q2. Again, very confident in the turn we saw at the end of Q1 and the inventory position that we hit Q1 with.
spk05: Okay, and then maybe just a follow-up, Jared, on the makeup of inventory. Obviously, a lot of focus on inventory across retail, given how elevated, you know, we're seeing some companies report inventory across just the sector. You're talking about the high heat products and it sounds like a lot of the inventory build is focused in those products, but are there other pockets where you're heavy on merchandise? And if so, you know, do you pack that away or is there markdown risk associated with that?
spk07: Yeah, so first and foremost, great question. Number one, we're very confident in the inventory position. You know, obviously with the bill of $94 million from the end of the year to the end of the first quarter, the inventory is extremely fresh. We're very confident in the composition of the inventory, and the vast majority of the inventory growth that we saw from the end of the year to the end of the first quarter is in high-demand footwear. So very confident in our ability to move through that inventory. And again, the supply chain certainly has had – injected some chaos with the way we run the business, but our team on the merchandising area has done a great job of controlling inventory and controlling where we have any particular challenges, and our venture support continues to be at an incredible level. So very confident with where we stand at the end of Q1 with regards to inventory.
spk05: Okay, thank you for that. Last question, then I'll pass it on. Just Bill mentioned a record number of initiatives I guess, within e-comm here this quarter. Can you share any specific color on what you guys have on tap on that front? Thank you.
spk06: Yeah, sure. This is Bill. Good morning. So, yeah, for e-commerce, we're going to make it easier for customers to find products. We're going to reduce purchase friction, payment friction, and then we're going to make improvements to fulfillment. I also mentioned Omnichannel, and this The thing about Omnichannel is we believe it's going to evolve well beyond traditional programs like Focus and Curbside. And that stores and digital are really combining now and learning a little bit. And where we're making investments is at those points of intersection between the two. And so what I want to get across is that we are taking an opportunity this year to make investments in the e-commerce as well as on the channel.
spk05: Great. Thank you guys and best of luck for the rest of the year. Thank you.
spk11: Our next question comes from the line of Alex Perry with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
spk10: Hi. Thanks for taking my question. So I just wanted to ask, you know, how much sort of macro factors are, you know, factored into the guidance here? So I think, you know, the back half of the year, there's sort of a assumed material improvement in comps on both an absolute basis and on a three-year stack. How much of this is just, you know, better visibility in terms of the supply that you have coming in versus, you know, sort of balancing sort of your thoughts on the overall sort of consumer environment and, you know, the pressure from inflation that you're seeing?
spk02: Sure. Thanks for the question. This is Mike. I'll handle this one. So certainly the first quarter was always going to be the toughest quarter, and it was always going to be the toughest one to forecast and model. I think we've all lived through that. We've seen it because of the disruptions in various and sundry forms, most notably stimulus. So to your specific question, certainly the consumer is concerned about inflation. That's a fact. I don't think anyone would dispute that. But things that are going the other way for the consumer are that wages have increased along with that inflation. The employment situation has dramatically improved with regards to a specific situation. For us, the competitive set has improved. So there's less product available. And then we have all of the things that we've been talking about that we knew We're embedded in the guidance, specifically our business model, that's service and selection and the best in class omnichannel experience. We know that our laser focus on the consumer experience is paying off and will continue to pay off. We're in the early innings of what we're doing in the stores. We still have plenty of upside online in our digital business. As I said, the competitive situation only improves, and we believe that that is also in the early innings. Simply because of the supply chain disruptions that occurred over the last several months, we all know that some of the moderate-price department stores lost distribution of critical product. Well, some of that dribbled in all the way into January and, in some cases, February. So it's taken a while for that inventory to dry up. We believe that that has begun now. And then we had a belief that our inventory position would be improved when we did this guidance, and that belief has turned into a certainty. Our inventory position has improved by $94 million, most of which came in later in Q1. So we believe and we know that that will set us up well for Q2 and beyond.
spk10: That's incredibly helpful. Thank you. And then I just wanted to ask in terms of the promotional environment and sort of what's factored into the guidance here. you know, just on the gross margin, it seems like the guidance implies improvement in gross margin in the back half versus last year. You know, what is sort of being factored in to the thought there in terms of, you know, what you're seeing in terms of freight or promotions or product margins? That'd be really helpful. Thank you.
spk02: Sure. This is Mike again. I'll kick it off. What drives promotion generally is either in a general form is The need to drive traffic or to clear inventory? Well, traffic's not an issue, and our inventory is not an issue. We've got very fresh inventory. As I said, that $94 million came in late in the quarter.
spk04: So we know what our inventory looks like. Jared? I think that's exactly right.
spk07: Certainly, we've seen the promotional environment improve significantly over historical norms. So what we have not seen thus far is a significant retraction back to a very promotional environment that we've seen historically. The marketplace still seems to be operating at a high level and not very promotional. And as Mike mentioned, we're very confident in our inventory composition, which gives us Again, a lot of confidence with regard to our ability to manage promotions and manage the margin properly as we go throughout the year.
spk03: Perfect. That's really helpful. Best of luck going forward.
spk11: Thanks. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Christina Fernandez with Telsey Advisory Group. Please proceed with your question.
spk09: Good morning and thanks for taking my question. I wanted to go back and ask about stimulus. A couple of other retailers have cited, you know, continuing to lap the benefit here in the second quarter. It seems like you think it's mostly behind. So maybe can you share some color of how you think that benefited you last year and, you know, why would there not be an impact here in the second quarter?
spk02: This is Mike. Thanks for the question. When you look at the sales curves and the seasonality of those curves on a week-by-week basis, which we obsess over, like all other retailers, it appears that the first two weeks of the quarter still had a stimulus effect last year, but we're past that, and we're seeing that our Seasonality trends are now back to a much more normal level. They look much more like fiscal 20. And so we believe, as a result, that the stimulus impact is substantially behind us now.
spk09: That's helpful. And then my second question was on the inventory. I mean, in the fourth quarter and first quarter, you were trying to clear through some inventory. Is that now behind, or is there more to go there?
spk02: We did have some promotion in Q4. We did have some promotion in Q1. Neither one of those were big drivers with regards to gross margin. Again, because the inventory is fresh and new. In Q4, I characterize it as we didn't have nearly enough inventory. Q1, we began to build, and just like everybody else and just like every other retail environment you're always going to have the one or two items or one or two small subcategories that didn't sell through as you expected so but those promotions really weren't material and we don't expect that to be material going forward uh i'll remind you our age inventory is still very very low historically helpful and then my last question um perhaps for bob on the sgna
spk09: you know, also thinking about, you know, the guidance for the year and what happened in the first quarter, it would imply SG&A leverage, you know, over the next three quarters combined. So can you share more color of, I mean, do the, is it just a function of the year-over-year comparisons or are some of the cost pressures you saw in the first quarter kind of abating as the year progresses?
spk12: Yeah. And again, some of the up as compared, but what we're gonna see as we go forward is we're starting to take advantage of some of the investments we made last year. That's gonna provide us some benefit as we go forward. Combine that with what we think is gonna be a fairly positive sales trend over the rest of the year, and start to be able to get better leverage against that. If you do remember, we do expect this year to be higher than last year on a full year basis, but again, that gap will close from quarter to quarter as we proceed through the year. Again, it's just more
spk04: with the lower sales volume, those will get easier to move throughout the year.
spk01: Thank you.
spk04: Jim.
spk11: Our next question comes from the line of Jim Shakir with Monish, Crespi, Hart & Company. Please proceed with your question.
spk16: Morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to follow up on kind of the impact of inventory constraints in first quarter. In fourth quarter, I believe you estimated a 5% impact to sales from insufficient inventory. Was the impact in first quarter the same, similar, greater than that? Any color would be great. Thanks.
spk02: Yeah. So inventory for sure did impact us early in the quarter. As the quarter gain moment, as inventory came in, We did gain momentum. Jared, you had some specific commentary on that?
spk07: Yeah, so the impact that we referenced in the fourth quarter was specifically due to launches, date changes, and moving out of the fourth quarter. But the first quarter inventory impact, again, comparable back to fiscal 20, was a general lack of inventory earlier in the quarter. So we believe that the impact of the early part of the quarter was likely a little bit more significant than what we saw during the fourth quarter.
spk16: Thanks. And then just in the slides, you noted, you know, women's footwear and apparel, you know, mid-60s versus, you know, 2019. You know, what's driving that, and is that still an opportunity for the business?
spk07: Yeah, we see women as a tremendous opportunity for us. We also see kids as a tremendous opportunity for us. We felt that we have underserved that consumer over the last few years for sure. We've put a lot of time and attention to, first and foremost, understanding how they're interacting with us, building that plan for investment, and ensuring that the product is coming to life from an in-store and digital perspective. So if you still see upside there, then we'll continue to make those appropriate investments.
spk16: Great. Thank you.
spk11: Thank you so much. Our next question comes from the line of John Lawrence with the Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question.
spk15: Thanks for taking the question. Mike, am I missing something? Jared, you might remember several years ago when you had this high gas prices. Was there a phenomenon that maybe in those small markets that people didn't drive to the city as much and may have stayed more local and to some extent and help the business?
spk02: Certainly our consumer is going to be challenged by higher gas prices, higher food prices, higher rents. I think everyone knows that and so we should acknowledge that. But again, we think that the factors that overcome that are the fact that their wages have gone up and that employment is very strong. So the consumer, at least so far, is in a pretty good place in that I think one of the things to call out here that I think might be worth saying is that branded product has more cache. Brands have more equity in them than unbranded. And so we're beginning to see a divergence there in retail where the stronger brands inside a strongly branded retailer are doing pretty well. And we think that all of those factors coming into play
spk15: helping us great and last question is I assume you've not seen any change in the demand for that those new release products and all that stuff as far as the first quarter is concerned no change in the customer demand for that
spk02: Yeah, so the demand on the high-heat product, which comes in the form, of course, of the specific launch products that we all talk about because that drives the buzz in the industry, that demand has been very good. And that's, again, all the things we've talked about on the consumer plus the competitive set plus the fact that we've got a consumer experience that we're awfully proud of. But that Monday through Thursday, Friday business is also very strong because of high heat product that you wouldn't necessarily categorize as a watch. So think of some of the franchises out there, the iconic models. Those things are selling through very rapidly as well. Great. Thanks. Good luck. Thank you.
spk14: Last question from Sam.
spk11: Our next question is a follow-up question from the line of Sam Poser with Williams Trading. Please proceed with your question.
spk13: Okay, I got three. One, what's the increase in loyalty members versus two years or three years ago and last year? Two, have you done any further buyback since the end of the quarter? And three, you sort of alluded to it, how are your allocations looking on a year-over-year or two- or three-year basis of that high heat slash launch product? And do you foresee yourself building a partnership with a very large brand similar to that that is done from a sporting goods retailer out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
spk02: All right, thank you. Bill, you want to lead that off and speak to loyalty?
spk06: Yeah, absolutely. So, the loyalty program was grown by a couple million since last year. The other things that we looked at, and as you know, we We invented our loyalty program last year. We added City Gear to that. And we've seen a substantial portion of sales now going through loyalty there. And then the other piece that isn't talked about very often is really the point of loyalty program, which is to drive sales. And we're seeing some very good things there. For example, our average loyalty member purchase is 16% above a non-member purchase. So we are seeing the loyalty program grow and drive behavior.
spk02: Bob, do you want to handle the buybacks?
spk12: Yes, for our share repurchases, we go through periods of open windows and closed windows. Usually toward the end of the quarter, the windows are closed. We get a little bit more conservative.
spk02: All right, and then I think I wrote this down. There were some questions, Jared, on allocations and partnerships with other brands.
spk07: Yeah, so I'll answer this question. First and foremost, our partnerships are incredible and are at an all-time high. It has been significantly reinforced throughout the last few years, and our business model is very well understood, and our brand partners see significant value in it. We are very confident in our order book and our ability to serve our consumers, and we'll continue to invest as much as possible in our high-end products. I mean, we're driving significant traffic to our chain and to our digital experience.
spk04: There are no further questions in the queue.
spk11: I'd like to hand it back over to Mike Longo for closing remarks.
spk02: Well, thank you very much. We appreciate everyone's participation today. We're very proud of what we've accomplished, our teammates, their efforts, and we try to recognize that every time. We look forward to getting back together relatively soon and getting you the results for Q2. Thank you, and everyone be safe this holiday weekend.
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