Back to top

Image: Shutterstock

Children's Place (PLCE) Digitization Endeavor is Paying Off

Read MoreHide Full Article

In spite of lingering apprehensions associated with the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the Retail - Apparel And Shoes industry has been steadily making its way out of the woods. The industry players have been focusing on deepening engagements with consumers, creating innovative and compelling products, and enhancing digital and data analytics capabilities. No wonder, The Children's Place, Inc. (PLCE - Free Report) has been aggressively adopting strategies and making planned investments to cater to consumer demand and behavior.

Digital Strategy Helps Win New Customers

Children's Place has been making investments to upgrade its omni-channel capabilities as part of its digital transformation strategy. The company’s $50 million digital transformation investment to enhance omni-channel capabilities in order to meet online demand is reaping benefits. Markedly, the company has one of the highest digital penetrations in the industry. The company has also launched a completely redesigned responsive site and mobile app for The Children's Place and Gymboree brands.

Management on its last earnings call on Nov 19, 2020, highlighted that since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the company has seen its new digital customer count double year over year. Further, it has converted more than 800,000 of its store-only customers to omni-channel ones. Moreover, the company’s app downloads have risen more than 60%. We also note that the company’s digital penetration rose to 44% in third-quarter fiscal 2020.

Children's Place has rolled out "BOPIS" (Buy Online, Pick Up in Store), Save the Sale and Ship from Store. Further, it launched SMS texting capabilities. It has also rolled out “BOSS” (Buy Online, Ship to Store), response to which has been encouraging. With changing consumer shopping pattern, the company has been making efforts to lower dependency on brick-and-mortar platform and shift toward digitization. The company is aiming mall-based brick-and-mortar portfolio to account for less than 25% of revenues entering fiscal 2022.

Measures to Counter COVID-19 Impact

Apart from aforementioned digitization endeavors, Children's Place has been taking measures to address challenges tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has been focusing on curtailing non-essential expenses, managing inventory, extending vendor payment terms, and analyzing capital expenditures.

Wrapping Up

Children's Place is leaving no stone unturned to expand customer base and improve its top-line performance. The company is accelerating fleet optimization initiative, directing resources toward digital platforms in order to better engage with customers, augmenting supply chain and concentrating on improving financial flexibility.

Markedly, shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have gained 68.5% over the past three-month time frame, courtesy of its robust business strategies. In the said period, the industry rallied 52.3%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fiscal 2021 earnings has moved up 20.6% over the past 60 days.

3 More Stocks That Look Red Hot

Hibbett Sports (HIBB - Free Report) has a long-term earnings growth rate of 17%. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

DICK’S Sporting Goods (DKS - Free Report) has a long-term earnings growth rate of 5.6%. It presently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Michaels Companies has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 54.1%, on average. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #1.

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


DICK'S Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS) - free report >>

Hibbett, Inc. (HIBB) - free report >>

The Children's Place, Inc. (PLCE) - free report >>

Published in