Skechers plans for remarkable year include 'a lot' more stores

Surpassing $3 billion in annual sales last year was a big deal for Skechers and now CEO Robert Greenberg is banking on the addition of more than 300 new stores to help the company set another sales record in 2016.



Skechers plans to open between 330 and 340 stores this year, projecting it will have a year-end total of 1,650 locations, of which 575 will be company owned. The accelerated pace of expansion is easy to understand given the powerful contribution the company’s physical footprint had on its fourth quarter and full year sales and profit performance.



Sales increased to $723 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $570 million the prior year. Full year sales increased to a record $3.147 billion, compared to sales of $2.378 billion the prior year. Fourth quarter net income increased to $29.4 million from $21.9 million, while full year profits increased to $232 million from $139 million.



“Surpassing $3 billion in annual sales is a remarkable accomplishment and to achieve this growth across both our domestic and international businesses speaks to the global strength of the Skechers brand,” said CEO Robert Greenberg. “While we continue to take increased shelf space within our existing accounts worldwide, the Skechers retail store count has also grown to more than 1,300 company-owned and third-party owned locations at year-end. Pivotal to this growth has been continued product innovation and expansion into more categories enabling us to appeal to an even broader demographic.”



With the company continuing to focus on comfort, style and quality in shoe design, Greenberg said Skechers is expanding its business within existing doors and into new accounts and countries as well.

“Looking at 2016, we plan to continue to grow worldwide and believe we will see strong double-digit and, in some cases, triple-digit gains in countries around the world,” Greenberg said.



The new year is off to a good start with the company disclosing that its company-owned retail stores are on target with mid- to high-single digit retail comps in January and gaining share. January sales are up roughly 35% compare to January the prior year, according to the company.