Coach Inc.’s third-quarter sales were down 7% year-over-year. However, the high-end accessories seller is seeing double-digit global sales.
During its third-quarter earnings call April 29, Coach CEO Victor Luis said third-quarter international sales increased 14% to $441 million from $385 million last year (and on a constant currency basis international sales rose 20%).
“In fact, men’s represented 15% of our global sales in the third quarter and continued to positively contribute to our comps, while we expanded our footwear distribution notably in international markets,” Luis said during the earnings call.
Luis said Coach is continuing to drive its men’s business globally through standalone and dual gender stores and by dedicating more space for broader men’s assortment in existing retail stores. In the third quarter, Coach’s sales of men’s bags and accessories continued to grow at double-digit rate globally.
“Looking ahead, we remain bullish about the prospects for our global men’s business where we’re continuing to target about $700 million in sales in [fiscal year 2014], up about 20% from last year,” Luis said.
While sales in China increased more than 25% with a continuation of double-digit costs, and the business is now on course to deliver sales of over $540 million, Luis said North American sales fell 18% to $648 million from $792 million last year on a 21% comparable store sales decrease.
In Japan, Coach’s sales increased 10% from prior year on a constant-currency basis, while dollar sales declined 2%, reflecting the weaker yen. Shipments into international wholesale accounts rose significantly, while underlying POS sales trends remained robust.