Athleisure giant stretches ship-from-store commitment

On the heels of announcing plans to open smaller, “local” stores, lululemon athletica hopes to further extend the breadth of its brand by expanding its ship-from-store service — just in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season.



The program, which currently encompasses 11 stores, will grow to 65 locations, a move that will streamline fulfillment of online orders, Laurent Potdevin, lululemon’s CEO, said during the company’s fiscal second quarter 2016 earnings call last week.



Combined with new local stores that will position the brand in front of customers that it would not otherwise reach, the expanded ship-from-store service will fulfill online orders using available inventory across these new locations. As a result, the athleisure retailer is primed to reach more shoppers during the critical holiday shopping season.



“The service will further improve our ability to service guests, and optimize full inventory sell through,” Potdevin added.



The service is expected to further impact lululemon’s direct-to-consumer sales, which were up 6% for the second quarter, ended July 31.