Dive Brief:
- Columbia Sportswear reported $985.7 million in sales in the third quarter, a 3% increase from the period last year, according to a company press release last week.
- The company also altered its guidance for the full 2023 fiscal year. It projects full-year net sales will grow as much as 2% to between $3.48 billion to $3.53 billion, down from a previous estimate of $3.53 billion to $3.59 billion.
- While sales in the U.S. remain challenging, CEO Tim Boyle said Columbia’s performance was led by international-direct markets.
Dive Insight:
Columbia’s U.S. sales in the third quarter rose 5% to $635.4 million, and in Canada, sales jumped 33% to $105.5 million.
The Latin America and Asia Pacific regions grew 4% to $115.4 million. Meanwhile, the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions decreased 16% to $129.4 million.
Boyle said the company is making “meaningful progress” on its inventory reduction plan, with inventory down 16% year-over-year.
“As we finish the year and look forward to 2024, economic and geopolitical uncertainty is high,” Boyle said in the release. “We know there will be challenges, particularly in the first half of next year.”
Columbia’s namesake brand remains its most lucrative, with brand sales totaling $804 million, a 4% increase year over year. Its other brand Sorel increased sales 9% to $122.1 million.
On a call with analysts, Boyle was asked what was contributing to a lower growth outlook for the Sorel brand, which Columbia said could create a $1 billion revenue opportunity.
The company remains bullish on the Sorel brand, Boyle said.
“I would say that the opportunity for us to continue to grow it into a year-round brand has been slightly more challenging than we thought,” Boyle said. “And so, it's still dependent heavily on winter product, [with] an incredible reputation, our plan is to continue to focus on expanding with the seasonal nature of the products to take advantage of the incredible brand that Sorel has.”
However, Columbia’s other owned brands prAna and Mountain Hardwear saw sales decrease 18% and 9%, respectively.
Columbia has been working to reposition the prAna brand for growth amid what it called a “reset.” In August, the company named Tricia Shumavon president of the brand, which was under the interim leadership of Craig Zanon, senior vice president of emerging brands for Columbia.
