Omnichannel aids Brown Shoe BTS efforts

Famous Footwear parent company Brown Shoe said it believes stepped up omnichannel efforts will drive sales this back-to-school season sales after reporting better than expected second quarter results.



The operator of more than 1,200 Famous Footwear and Naturalizer stores said sales increased 2.3% to $636 million with same store sales at Famous Footwear brand stores up 1.6%. The company also operates 14 branded ecommerce sites and is known for brands such as Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl’s, LifeStride, Ryka, Sam Edelman, Franco Sarto, Vince, Via Spiga, Fergie Footwear and Carlos Santana.



“Our second quarter results reflect the health of both our retail and wholesale businesses, as we continue to benefit from, and expand on, our portfolio realignment efforts,” said Diane Sullivan, CEO, president and chairman of Brown Shoe Company. “At Famous Footwear, our focus on delivering a seamless omnichannel experience to our consumers helped kick off our back-to-school selling season. At our wholesale brands, our trend-right merchandise is resonating with both consumers and retailers.”



Second quarter profits increased 17.6% to $18.1 million, or 41 cents a share, compared to prior year profits of $15.4 million, or 35 cents a share. That was good enough to cause the company to raise its full year forecast.



“Despite a continued, industry-wide decline in traffic patterns and an overall tough retail environment, we were able to deliver against expectations in the second quarter,” said Russ Hammer, Brown Shoe’s CFO. “To account for our better-than-expected second quarter performance, we are raising our annual guidance range to $1.50 to $1.60.”



The company expects its Famous Footwear stores to produce same store sales growth in the low single digits this year.