Us Leisure Fashion Retailer A&F Intends To Shut Down 60 Stores And Cut Naked Male Models.

March 3rd, the United States

Abercrombie&Fitch (A&F) released its fourth quarter financial report, thanks to youth.

Hollister earned $57 million 700 thousand in the fourth quarter, up from $44 million 400 thousand in the same period last year.

It is understood that after the pformation of brand image in recent years, including the use of sexy marketing and the creation of a more friendly store environment, A&F announced that "the turning point has finally arrived".

According to foreign media reports, in the fourth quarter, sales of A&F stores over one year had increased by 1%.

Among them, sales of Hollister stores which opened for more than a year increased by 4%, while Abercrombie stores declined by 2%. The former income was 604 million dollars, while the latter only had 509 million dollars.

Meanwhile, A&F also revealed that in the past 6 years, A&F has shut down 1/3 of its stores and plans to close 60 stores this year.

By the end of January, A&F had 754 names and Hollister stores in the United States, while the peak value of 6 years ago was 1068.

"The important thing is to shut down some of the shops is not a stressful response we are forced to do, but an active attack that we cater to the change in consumer habits."

COO Jonathan Ramsden said.

A&F also revealed that A&F sales accounted for 28% of the total in the fourth quarter, and 40% of direct sales came from mobile devices.

Arthur Martinez, chairman of the board of directors, said: "the degree of competition continues to grow.

Traditional teenage goods retailers are only Abercrombie, Eagle and Aeropostale, and now Zara, H&M, and even Primark are all joined, and the competition will be more intense. "

At the same time, A&F intends to exceed its peers in e-commerce.

"We have the best direct selling and e-commerce mode.

In 2015, 24% of our business came from direct sales, and we had to invest more in the Internet to ensure that this figure continued to grow, "Martinez said." I think this is an advantage over peers. "

In addition, Martinez also said that A&F would not be like others.

In this way, we can help ourselves through big promotion: "we will never rely on discount prices to boost sales."

Today, A&F also announced that its sales in the fiscal year amounted to $2 billion 300 million, far below the US $3 billion 200 million in 2008.

The overall calculation is flat compared with the same period in 2008, because the overseas market has greatly compensated for the gap.

It revealed that up to now 150 overseas stores have been added and more are being launched.

It is understood that in 2014, A&F's first flagship store in mainland China settled in Shanghai, the Fifth Asian flagship store after Tokyo, Singapore, Hongkong and Seoul.

The main problem facing A&F is that its namesake and Hollister recapture young American consumers and remain hot overseas.

It is understood that it is testing new stores, relaxing the dress and behavior requirements of store staff, and trying to provide cheaper basic single products, which is in sharp contrast to the high priced strategy at the beginning of 2000.

It is understood that A&F was founded in 1892 and was the boss of the mall in the United States. Its interior decoration is night club style, and the sexy male model platform with bare upper body.

But a few years ago, they lost interest in American teenagers, and sales continued to decline.

In 2014, it sacked its old partner, CEO Mike Jeffries, and continued to switch executives to change its brand image, update its fashion direction and stop using male models without clothing in the store.