Hibbett - Q3 2023
November 29, 2022
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Greetings, and welcome to the Hibbett, Incorporated's Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Gavin Bell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.
Gavin A. Bell (VP of Investor Relations and Treasury)
Thank you and good morning. Please note that we have prepared a slide deck that we will refer to during our prepared remarks. The slide deck is available on hibbett.com via the investor relations link found at the bottom of the homepage or at investors.hibbett.com and under the News and Events section. These materials may help you follow along with our discussion this morning. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that some of the management's comments during this conference call are forward-looking statements. These statements, which reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance, are made in reliance on the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to uncertainties and risks. It should be noted that the company's future results may differ materially from those anticipated and discussed in the forward-looking statements.
Some of the factors that could cause or contribute to such differences have been described in the news release issued this morning and are noted on slide two of the earnings presentation and the company's annual report on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We refer you to those sources for more information. Also, to the extent non-GAAP financial measures are discussed on this call, you may find a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on our website. Lastly, I'd like to point out that management's remarks during the conference call are based on information and understandings believed accurate as of today's date, November 29th, 2022. Because of the time-sensitive nature of this information, it is the policy of Hibbett, Inc. To limit the archived replay of this conference call webcast to a period of 30 days.
The participants on this call are Mike Longo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jared Briskin, Executive Vice President of Merchandising, Bob Volke, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bill Quinn, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Digital, and Ben Knighten, Senior Vice President of Operations. I'll now turn the call over to Mike Longo.
Mike Longo (CEO)
Good morning. Welcome to the Hibbett/City Gear Q3 Earnings Call. For those of you following along on the slides, I'm on slide three entitled Overview. We're pleased with our strong top-line performance for the third quarter, boosted by a busy back-to-school selling season, which landed more in the current quarter this year versus the second quarter last year, as consumers waited closer to the start of school to make purchases. That helped deliver a nearly 10% year-over-year increase in comparable sales in Q3, and an increase in diluted earnings per share in excess of 15%. We had confidence in our improving inventory position going into the third quarter, and our sell-through is strong as we continue to experience robust sales for our popular footwear brands. We did experience some challenges related to our apparel sales, which impacted our gross margins.
We also saw margins continue to be challenged by the impact of high fuel and freight costs, increased utility costs, and wage inflation. In Q3, these cost headwinds affected the operating margin somewhat more than in an expected higher volume quarter like Q4. Overall, our team did an outstanding job executing this quarter despite the ongoing macroeconomic pressures. We continued to leverage the strength of our business model and provide an outstanding service in both our stores and through our expanding omni-channel platform. Moving on to slide four, I'd like to reiterate our success in rebasing our sales and profits at higher levels versus pre-pandemic levels. On a three-year stack that is compared to FY20, our total Q3 sales grew 57% and our diluted earnings per share increased approximately 15-fold on a GAAP basis and 6-fold on a non-GAAP basis.
These results derive from significant improvements to our underlying business model, which will continue to support our long-term growth. As we enter the last quarter of the year and the important holiday selling season, we remain confident we will meet our objectives for fiscal year 2023. Moving on to the topic of inventory, we ended the quarter at just over $400 million, which we believe will support our expected holiday demand and meet the needs of our consumers. We're fortunate to have strong vendor partnerships which support our ability to have sufficient inventory levels of the right product mix to drive sales. In addition to the amount of inventory, we're very positive about the quality of that inventory as we approach the holidays. We continue to offer a compelling range of trend-relevant brands and products that appeal to our fashion-conscious consumers.
While the current inflationary environment is certainly challenging for families faced with higher prices for food, shelter, and gas, we continue to see strong demand. As we enter the fourth quarter, we remain committed to executing our strategy and optimizing our performance. Our best-in-class omni-channel business model, our superior service in the stores, and our compelling merchandise assortment creates differentiation in the marketplace, provides us with a competitive advantage in the eyes of the consumer and our vendor partners, and puts us in a position to deliver strong sales and profitability in the coming years. As a result, we are reaffirming our full-year fiscal guidance. Bob will cover this in further detail in a few moments. Before turning the call over to Jared, I'd like to thank our approximately 11,000 team members across the organization.
They're the face of our company and continue to represent our brand across our network of over 1,100 stores. Our omni-channel platform, our logistics facilities, and our Store Support Center. Finally, before I conclude, the recent 2023 omni-channel leadership report from retail cloud platform provider, NewStore, audite the omni-channel capabilities of 300 luxury, premium, and lifestyle retail brands in North America. According to the research and feedback provided from a team of mystery shoppers, Hibbett was cited as one of the top five omni-channel retailers. We're extremely honored to be included in this exclusive group and even more grateful for the hard work of all of our team members, whose commitment to excellence is being recognized in our industry. I'll now turn the call over to Jared. Thank you.
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Thank you, Mike. Good morning. If you turn to slide six, merchandising. For the third quarter, our sales performance was in line with our expectations across our merchandise categories. We continue to believe that due to the impacts of COVID and stimulus during the last two fiscal years, the comparative fiscal 2020, calendar 2019, is the most meaningful comparison. When compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2020, comp sales were up 51.7%. From a year-over-year category standpoint, when compared to fiscal 2022, calendar 2021, all categories performed as expected. Footwear and accessories were the standout categories during the quarter. Footwear had a comp sales increase in the high 20s, and accessories were up high single digits. Apparel and team sports were both negative in the quarter, up against significant increases in the prior year.
When compared to fiscal 2020, calendar 2019, we saw positive comp results across all merchandise categories. Footwear drove the largest increase, In the low 70s. Apparel was up in the high 30s, and team sports was up mid-single digits. Specific to footwear and apparel, men's, women's, and kids all showed significant growth when compared to fiscal 2020, calendar 2019. Women's growth was more than double. Kids grew in the mid-60s, and men's grew in the low 50s. As Mike referenced earlier, we're confident in our inventory position. The increased inventory levels are largely attributed to better in-stock position of key footwear franchises. As I referenced in my sales commentary, we also believe the most meaningful comparison regarding inventory is comparing to fiscal 2020, calendar 2019.
When compared to fiscal 2020, calendar 2019, inventory levels were up 40% at the end of the quarter and balanced with our 57% sales gain. This increase is largely due to price inflation as well as positive impacts to our mix of inventory and footwear. When compared to fiscal 2020, calendar 2019, unit inventory levels were +2%. Our results in the third quarter, combined with our strong quarter end inventory position, continue to give us confidence that our toe-to-head merchandising strategy is working and elevating how we serve consumers. I'll now hand it over to Bob to cover our financial results.
Bob Volke (SVP and CFO)
Thanks, Jared. Good morning. Please refer to slide seven, entitled Q3 FY 2023 Results. As a reminder, our results are reported on a consolidated basis that includes both the Hibbett and City Gear brands. Total net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 increased 13.5% to $433.2 million, from $381.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2022. Overall comp sales increased 9.9% versus the prior year third quarter. In comparison to the third quarter of fiscal 2020, the most relevant period prior to the pandemic, comp sales increased by 51.7%. Brick-and-mortar comp sales were up 7.9% versus the same period in fiscal 2022 and have increased by a robust 42.5% versus the third quarter of fiscal 2020.
Our online business continues to grow as e-commerce sales increased 22% compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2022, have increased by 124.7% on a three-year stack. E-commerce sales accounted for 15% of net sales during the current quarter, compared to 14% in the third quarter of fiscal 2022, 10.5% in the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Gross margin was 34.3% of net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2023, compared with 36.3% in the third quarter of last year. The approximate 200 basis point decline was primarily due to a lower product margin of approximately 245 basis points, partially offset by approximately 45 basis points of expense leverage in our logistics operations.
Product margin decreases are the result of increased promotional activity, primarily on apparel, and a higher mix of e-commerce sales, which carry a lower margin than brick-and-mortar sales. Expense leverage in our logistics operations was due to higher sales in the current quarter and the timing of expenses related to repairs and maintenance and supplies. Freight cost a percent of sales compared to the prior year increased by approximately 10 basis points, but this was offset by approximately 10 basis points of store occupancy leverage. Store operating, selling, and administrative expenses were 23.9% of net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2023, compared with 25.2% of net sales for the third quarter of last year. This approximate 130 basis point decrease is primarily the result of leverage from the higher current year revenue.
Although wage inflation continues to be a headwind, other spend categories such as medical expense, professional fees, repairs and maintenance, and supplies were favorable. Depreciation and amortization in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 increased approximately $2.1 million in comparison to the same period last year, reflecting increased capital investment on organic growth opportunities and infrastructure projects. We generated $34.2 million of operating income, or 7.9% of net sales in the third quarter, compared to $33.4 million, or 8.8% of net sales in the prior year's third quarter. Diluted earnings per share were $1.94 for this year's third quarter compared to $1.68 per share in the third quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 15.5%. We did not have any non-GAAP items in either period.
Next, I will discuss the fiscal 2023 year-to-date results. I'm now referencing slide 8 entitled Year-to-Date FY 2023 Results. Total net sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2023 were $1.25 billion, compared to $1.31 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2022, a decrease of 4.4%. Overall comp sales decreased 7.4% versus the same period in the prior year. In comparison to the first nine months of fiscal 2020, comp sales have increased by 41.3%. Brick and mortar comp sales decreased 10.2% versus the first nine months of fiscal 2022, but have increased by 31% versus the first nine months of fiscal 2020.
E-commerce sales increased 11.2% compared to the same period of fiscal 2022, and have increased by 135.5% on a three-year stack. E-commerce sales accounted for 14.9% of net sales during the current fiscal year, compared to 12.8% for the first nine months of fiscal 2022, and 9.1% in the first nine months of fiscal 2020. Year-to-date gross margin was 35.3% of net sales in fiscal 2023 compared with 39.1% in the same period of last year.
The approximate 380 basis point decline was primarily due to the following factors: A decline in product margin of approximately 225 basis points due to promotional activity, primarily in apparel, and a higher mix of e-commerce sales which carry a lower margin than brick-and-mortar sales. Increased cost of freight and transportation of approximately 90 basis points. This is driven by higher fuel costs and an increase in our e-commerce mix. Deleveraged of store occupancy costs of approximately 90 basis points, mainly due to the year-over-year decline in total sales coupled with higher rent and utility costs. These unfavorable impacts to gross margin were partially offset by expense leverage of approximately 25 basis points in our logistics operations.
SG&A expenses were 23.2% of net sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2023, compared with 21.5% of net sales for the same period of last year. This approximate 170 basis point increase is primarily a result of deleverage from the lower current year revenue. Expense categories such as wages, data processing, advertising, and general supplies necessary to support a larger store base and increased e-commerce activity contributed to the increase in SG&A. Depreciation and amortization in the first nine months of fiscal 2023 increased approximately $7 million in comparison to the same period last year, reflecting our ongoing commitments to invest in organic growth opportunities and infrastructure improvement projects.
We have generated $117.7 million in operating income, or 9.4% of net sales in the first nine months of the fiscal year, compared to $205.1 million, or 15.7% of net sales in the prior year's first nine months. Year-to-date diluted earnings per share were $6.71 for fiscal 2023, compared to $9.74 per share in the same period of fiscal 2022. We did not have any non-GAAP items in either fiscal year. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $25.1 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Net inventory at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023 was $404.8 million, an 83% increase from the beginning of the fiscal year, and a 56.4% increase from the same period last year. Inventory levels are generally higher at the end of the third quarter as we build toward the holiday selling season. Much of this dollar increase has been driven by cost increases as unit volumes have grown at a much slower pace. We have short term debt of $51.7 million outstanding on our $125 million line of credit at quarter end, mainly as a result of our inventory build and capital expenditure investments. Capital expenditures during the second quarter were $17 million, bringing the year to date total to $47.5 million.
Capital spend consists primarily of store development, technology, and infrastructure projects. During the third quarter, our store count increased by a net of 9 units, comprised of 11 new locations and 2 closures. On a year-to-date basis, we have increased store count by a net of 30, with 33 new locations, 1 rebrand, and 4 closures. Our total store count stands at 1,026 as of the end of the third quarter. During the third quarter, we repurchased 160,637 shares under our authorized share repurchase program for a total cost of approximately $9 million. On a year-to-date basis, we have repurchased approximately 797,000 shares at a total cost of $38.5 million.
We paid a recurring quarterly dividend during the quarter in the amount of $0.25 per eligible common share, for a total outflow of $3.2 million. For the first nine months of fiscal 2023, dividend payments have amounted to $9.7 million. Before we give guidance, I'll turn the call over to Bill to discuss some latest consumer insights.
Bill Quinn (SVP of Marketing and Digital)
Thank you, Bob. As Mike stated, while the current inflationary environment is certainly challenging for families faced with higher prices for food and gas, we continue to see and anticipate strong demand. Through recent customer research, we know that customers plan to spend more this year during the holidays. In particular, they plan to spend more on apparel and an even greater increase in footwear purchases. For Q3, our customer research indicated that customers would spend more. We certainly saw that with over a 20% increase in sales through our loyalty program versus last year. This helped drive our comparable sales increase of nearly 10% year-over-year. Our growth to last year as well as to FY 2020 has been driven consistently by a couple major factors. First, the number of shoppers in our customer base has grown substantially.
In fact, the number of active customers in our loyalty program achieved record levels in Q3 due to our ongoing acquisition and retention efforts. The second factor is that our average ticket continues to increase substantially due to gains in average unit retail. We see both increased customers and higher AUR as structural in nature, keeping our business rebaseline well above FY20. Turning to our e-commerce business. In Q3, sales increased 22% versus last year and 125% versus FY20. These results were driven by three main factors. First, our inventory position is greatly improved. Second, traffic increased due to our expanded customer base. Third, we improved our customer experience. Elevating our omni-channel experience is multifaceted and includes ongoing efforts to improve the delivery experiences, enhance our customer service, and improve the design and features of our website and apps.
We anticipate our digital sales in Q4 will continue to accelerate due to the three factors I mentioned, as well as growth in average unit retail. The increase in AUR is important as it will improve our online economics since higher retails reduce fulfillment costs as a percent to sales. I will now turn the call back to Bob to discuss our guidance.
Bob Volke (SVP and CFO)
Slide 10 summarizes our fiscal 2023 guidance. Although there continue to be some potentially significant business and economic challenges that may impact the fourth quarter, we wanted to reiterate the guidance we provided at our last quarter meeting update. Total net sales for the full year are expected to increase in the low single-digit range in dollars compared to our fiscal 2022 results. This implies comparable sales are expected to be in the range of flat to positive low single digits for the full year. Full year brick-and-mortar comparable sales are expected to be in the flat to positive low single-digit range, while full-year e-commerce revenue growth is anticipated to be in the positive high single-digit range. Net new store growth is expected to be in the range of 30-40 stores. As a result...
Excuse me, as a result of product margin headwinds, higher freight and transportation costs, store occupancy deleverage, and a higher mix of e-commerce sales, gross margin as a percent of net sales is anticipated to decline by approximately 290-310 basis points compared to fiscal 2022 results. This expected full-year gross margin range of 35.1%-35.3% remains above pre-pandemic levels. SG&A as a percent of net sales is expected to increase by 10-20 basis points in comparison to fiscal 2022 due to wage inflation, costs associated with growth in e-commerce, a larger store count, and annualization of back office infrastructure investments we made in fiscal 2022.
The expected full-year SG&A expense range of 22.7%-22.8% as a percent of net sales is below pre-pandemic levels. Operating income is expected to be in the low double-digit range as a percent of sales, also remaining above the pre-pandemic levels. Diluted earnings per share are anticipated to be in the range of $9.75-$10.50, using an estimated full-year tax rate of approximately 24.5% and an estimated weighted average diluted share count of 13.3 million. We continue to project capital expenditures in the range of $60 million-$70 million, with a focus on new store growth, remodels, and additional technology and infrastructure investments. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for your question. Our first questions come from the line of Alex Perry with Bank of America. Please proceed with your questions.
Alex Perry (VP of Equity Research)
Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Just first, could you maybe just talk through what gives you confidence to reiterate the guidance? I think it implies an acceleration in same-store sales versus 3Q and, you know, a lot less sort of year-over-year gross margin compression versus the 200 basis points you saw in 3Q. Is that based on trends you're sort of seeing, you know, to date, or is it based on, you know, did you work through a lot of the sort of elevated apparel inventory that required clearance? Sort of what gives you confidence to sort of, you know, re-accelerate here into the fourth quarter? Thanks.
Mike Longo (CEO)
Yeah. Good morning. Thank you, Alex. We do have confidence in Q4, and I think that we've got a couple of different ways of looking at it. We'll start with the customer, and then we'll go to inventory. Bill, if you'll lead us off.
Bill Quinn (SVP of Marketing and Digital)
Yeah. Good morning, Alex. This is Bill. The first part of that is we've asked our customers, and they do anticipate spending more during this holiday season. The biggest category that's gonna get that gain is footwear. On top of that, as I stated, we're in a record position as far as our member base. We've got a ton of active members. Record position as far as our ability to communicate with customers in terms of email, text, push, social media, et cetera. We're in great condition, great shape there. On top of that, we're seeing good sell-throughs, in particular in high-heat product. I'll turn it over to Jared to talk about inventory.
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Yeah. Thanks, Bill. Good morning, Alex. Just a couple things. You know, first and foremost, as a reminder, you know, last year in Q4 was heavily pressured by a lack of inventory, in particular, a lack of footwear inventory. It was essentially flat to the third quarter, which was a little bit surprising. As a reminder, we've talked about it, our inventory is extremely well positioned right now.
Very fresh, very new and highly concentrated in key footwear franchises. We're very confident as we head into the fourth quarter around the composition of inventory, in particular as it relates to footwear. You know, historically, the fourth quarter improves in the low to mid-teens from a revenue standpoint when compared to the third quarter. That gives us some confidence. We didn't see that last year due to the inventory problems, when you go back and look at historicals, that's typically the Q4 versus Q3 split. Lastly, if you look at the second quarter and third quarter, compare back to fiscal 2020, that's pretty consistent in the fifties from a growth perspective, which gives us, again, a lot of confidence as we go into fourth quarter based off that trend.
Alex Perry (VP of Equity Research)
Perfect. Just as a follow-up, the sort of, you know, implied 4Q gross margin guide, you know, implies less year-over-year compression. Is that based on, you know, have you worked through a lot of the apparel? Is it still expected to be as promotional? You know, any color you can give on, you know, how November is shaping up would be helpful. Thanks.
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Yeah. Let's all start. It's Jared. I mean, again, we're really confident where our inventory is. We're getting incredible support from all of our vendor partners. We wanna make sure that our inventory is seasonally relevant on our floors. If you think about the last couple of years, particularly in apparel, due to all the supply chain disruption, there really hasn't been a seasonally relevant apparel story on our floors or anyone else's floor for that matter. We still have some things to work through, you know, primarily from spring and summer, and that was some of the impact that we saw during the third quarter. Again, nothing that we are terribly concerned about.
As a reminder, you know, some quarters that were aided by stimulus, as an example, had some gross margins that were at unsustainable levels, and last year, the third quarter really was the last one of those. That's one reason why we don't see as much de-leverage coming as we go forward into the fourth quarter.
Bob Volke (SVP and CFO)
Hey, Alex, it's Bob. One last follow-up point. I think also, you know, talking about a pretty strong Q4 gets a little bit more leverage in things like the store occupancy bucket. Obviously it would feel like we would see a little bit of improvement on a quarter-over-quarter basis there as well.
Alex Perry (VP of Equity Research)
Perfect. That's really helpful. Best of luck going forward.
Bob Volke (SVP and CFO)
Thank you.
Mike Longo (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Justin Kleber with Baird. Please proceed with your questions.
Justin E. Kleber (Senior Research Analyst)
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Mike, in the press release, there were a few comments I was hoping to get some more color on. First, just the opportunities you mentioned around expanding digital capabilities. Is that around fulfillment or maybe what specifically were you alluding to? Then the second comment on identifying opportunities to extend your market reach. Just wondering if that was in reference to continued organic store growth or maybe something else, you know, on the M&A front.
Mike Longo (CEO)
Sure. I'll take those in reverse order. The M&A part of the equation has probably slowed down considerably. I think everyone saw what happened over the past few years, and most of the players have been taken off the board. Probably not, but never say never. With regards to expanding our market, we continue to be, see opportunities to open new doors. I believe that we disclosed that we opened the Vegas market most recently. That was our new market this year. The balance of those stores, the rest of the stores that we opened were fill-in opportunities. I personally visited, a ton of stores in the past two weeks to include the Vegas market. Great stores, great locations, great crews, and the omni-channel capabilities really shine through in those, in those stores.
Very excited about that. The fill-in stores that I also saw, you know, were operating at a very high level, so we're excited about that. As you would imagine, there are all sorts of other opportunities to extend our market reach in terms of inside the categories we already own, continuing to exploit opportunities there, as well as adding to categories that we aren't currently participating in a big way. Those things always cycle up and down, and you'll see a change in mix, you know, at the macro level between men's and women's and kids, at the micro level between denim and twill and all those things that apparel and footwear retailers obsess over. That's what we get paid to do. That detail that we go through, but we don't often talk about it, is part of the opportunity that's there.
What frankly, we get paid to do is exploit those opportunities. With regards to digital, we have the best mousetrap, and we're very proud of what we have there. That best-in-class omni-channel experience we know is a bit of a race, though. We don't rest on our laurels. We meet weekly on the list of opportunities that we have and the things that we could do, and the list is longer than we could get done in any given year. The opportunity is there. Bill, you know, if you wanna expand upon that, please.
Bill Quinn (SVP of Marketing and Digital)
Yeah, absolutely, Justin. You know, I think you mentioned fulfillment. We're absolutely working on that. You can break that into two pieces. The first one is how long it takes for you to prepare an order, which we're working on that. Also, how long does it take to actually deliver that order, which we've got numerous initiatives around. Yes, fulfillment is a big focus for us. The other thing is
Customer experience. Obviously, we have a very good offering of omni-channel capabilities. We spend a lot of time on the design as well as testing of our website and apps. But currently, we haven't solved all of the customer pain points that are out there. You know, we're not gonna stop, as Mike mentioned, there are customer pain points that are out there that we're gonna invest in solving. Those are pain points that are common both online and in store.
Justin E. Kleber (Senior Research Analyst)
Thanks both for all that color. Very helpful. Just to follow up, unrelated on the comment on wage inflation. Curious if that pressure is accelerating, and, you know, can you give us a sense of it for how much wages are up on a year-over-year basis or maybe where your average hourly wage rate stands today versus, you know, pre-pandemic levels?
Ben Knighten (SVP of Operations)
Yeah, Justin, this is Ben Knighten. You know, Bob mentioned earlier, you know, our SG&A and the wage pressures we've experienced. The one thing I would say, though, you know, that's been going on for a while. We've actually seen a little bit of, you know, mitigation there. That growth has slowed, which is obviously good. You know, our job is to mitigate that cost, both in the stores, the SSC and our distribution centers. You know, some of our investments in technology and automation are starting to come online and, you know, that's really helping us to control those. We're also focused on managing our overtime as well as, you know, continuing to look at our labor model and making sure that we've got it dialed in exactly right. Hopefully that answered your question?
We're actually seeing, you know, a little bit of a slow in that growth. Still there, but slow.
Justin E. Kleber (Senior Research Analyst)
Got it. Okay, very helpful. Thanks, guys, and best of luck over the holiday.
Mike Longo (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Research Partners. Please proceed with your questions.
Mitch Kummetz (Senior Consumer Analyst)
Yes, thanks for taking my questions. First off, just on apparel, I was hoping you could elaborate on the competitive pricing pressure that you're seeing there. Maybe just get into some of the specifics and then how you see that kinda carrying through into the fourth quarter.
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Yeah. Good morning, Mitch, it's Jared. Yeah, we've obviously seen the apparel promotions ramp up, and we expected them to ramp up, but we believe they ramped up even more than expected. You know, our big challenge in the third quarter was less, with regard to competition and was more with regard to our desire to get to a seasonally appropriate score. We were fairly aggressive around spring and summer product that, you know, delivered late and maybe we didn't get through as much as we would like. You know, typically in the back end of the quarter, you get an offset, you know, of seasonal product. Unfortunately, this year, with some weather challenges at the back end of the quarter, we didn't see that come to fruition.
The other part of that is, you know, with our improvement in footwear inventory and our consumers very focused on footwear, that likely led to some pressure in some of the apparel businesses as well. You know, we're less reactive to the competitive environment. We're more reactive to our business and how we want our floors to look, as we get into future seasons.
Mitch Kummetz (Senior Consumer Analyst)
Okay, that's helpful. And then on footwear, I'm curious, with the discontinuation of Yeezy, a couple things. First off, just kinda remind us how important that business was to you, and as that's gone away, are you seeing demand transferring to other brands, or is it just, you know... or is that demand just going away? And in particular, are you seeing demand maybe transfer to the Retro Jordan business? And I'm curious if that is happening, does that benefit you just kinda given better allocations there and kind of your relative position in that business, you know, versus some of your competition?
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Yeah. you know, first and foremost, a very small business for us. you know, we were in the process of seeing some planned heightened growth as we were to go forward, but unfortunately, that didn't materialize. Not a business that we're terribly concerned about comping. We do think it's an advantage for us based off the other product lines that we carry, with that inventory not being in the market for the fourth quarter or the foreseeable future, and our ability to get additional inventory and the highly coveted footwear styles. We do feel like that's an advantage for us in the fourth quarter and as we go forward.
Mitch Kummetz (Senior Consumer Analyst)
Okay, great. Thanks and good luck.
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Cristina Fernández with Telsey Advisory Group. Please proceed with your questions.
Cristina Fernández (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Good morning. I had a couple of questions. I wanted to see if you could expand on the consumer trends you're seeing. How stable is the demand? Are you seeing any trade downs? Any change in behavior, meaning are you finding consumers waiting more for promotions to make the purchase?
Mike Longo (CEO)
We certainly are cognizant of the fact that the consumer is feeling pressure from inflation. We believe that our positioning in the industry and in retail in general, it skews more towards the hard to get the luxury items, as we continue to call it, affordable luxury items, which then causes the consumer to make different choices. We believe that, you know, one of the things that you're putting your finger on is the middle class shopper moving up and down in the price range based upon pressures they're seeing. We have a bit of a different point of view, and our consumer approaches that a little bit differently. Bill?
Bill Quinn (SVP of Marketing and Digital)
Good morning, Cristina. We haven't seen customers trade down, nor waiting. You know, the behavior is for some customers.
You know, not all customers, number one, are impacted by inflation. Other customers that are, they're gonna cut back in things like eating out as well as buying for themselves. That is a behavior trend. Again, our customers overall plan to spend more during the holidays. On the not waiting, customers are actually spending a little bit earlier in certain cases, and that's being driven by concerns around availability as well as some of the promotions.
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Yeah. Cristina, it's Jared. I'd also chime in just, you know, purely from a liquidation perspective, we continue to see our best liquidations, in the more premium price points and best level product, you know, across footwear and apparel. Again, our positioning in those products we feel does give us some advantage. We are seeing significant continued acceleration in our sell-throughs in those best level products that typically carry a higher price.
Cristina Fernández (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Thank you for that. My second question was around the benefit you're seeing from, you know, from Nike pulling back from some of your, you know, retail competitors. How is that materializing given the level of promotions out there, particularly in apparel?
Jared Briskin (EVP of Merchandising)
Yeah. Good morning, it's Jared. We're definitely seeing, you know, the improvement where, you know, the distribution was cut back for sure. It's certainly more outsized, in the footwear area right now than it is in the apparel area. We're seeing it across the board and again, feel like it's something we can continue to take advantage of, you know, for the foreseeable future.
Cristina Fernández (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Then the last question I had is more for Bob. Again, on the fourth quarter outlook, it implies really significant operating margin expansion, based on my math, you know, north of 500 basis points, solidly double digits. On the SG&A side, is it mostly just leverage on the higher sales or any other costs rolling off or lapping that would allow you to get that amount of operating margin expansion?
Bob Volke (SVP and CFO)
Yeah. Good morning, Cristina. you know, clearly, you know, some higher sales give you that leverage point, and that's gonna be the biggest individual factor. Again, as we've continued to kind of evolve our business over the last couple of years, we're taking some pretty critical looks at some of our spending categories. you know, I think Ben touched on it earlier. We are, you know, doing a lot of things within the stores to manage labor. We've got a lot of other technology that's starting to really pay dividends, things we've invested in over the last couple of years.
I do believe that overall, we're working hard to kind of maintain that cost structure so that not only do we get leverage during times of stronger sales, but we can manage those expenses more effectively, even in additional quarters going forward.
Cristina Fernández (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Thank you, and good luck this holiday season.
Bob Volke (SVP and CFO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to hand the call back over to Mike Longo for any closing comments.
Mike Longo (CEO)
Well, thank you very much for your time today. We appreciate the opportunity to speak to our business and to congratulate our teammates on another successful quarter, and we appreciate it. With that, we'll conclude.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your week.