Ermenegildo Zegna - Q1 2024 TU
April 23, 2024
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Hello all, and Welcome to Ermenegildo Zegna Group's first quarter 2024 revenues. My name is Lydia, and I'll be your operator today. If you'd like to ask a question during the Q&A, you can do so by pressing star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I'll now hand you over to Paola Durante, Chief of External Relations, to begin.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Thank you, and, good afternoon, good morning to everyone. Thank you for being here with us, for this, Ermenegildo Zegna Group first quarter 2024 revenues conference call. All the materials for today's presentation is on our website, and, you should also have received it. Just let me introduce the management, today on the call. We have, our Group CEO, Gildo Zegna, and, our Group COO and CFO, Gianluca Tagliabue. Before we begin, as usual, I need to point out that we will make certain forward-looking statements during the call. Our actual results may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these, by these forward-looking statements, which are also subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those described in our SEC filings.
Please refer to the forward-looking statement, cautionary statement, included in today's presentation. After this boring part, I leave the floor to our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Gildo Zegna.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
Hello, everybody. Good morning and good afternoon. Thank you for joining today's conference call on the first quarter 2024 revenue results for the Ermenegildo Zegna Group. A few weeks ago, as you recall, we shared how the group is continuing to develop our three brands for the long term and how we are tackling what we believe are short-term challenges in the luxury sector. You will see today that our Q1 revenue came in line with what we had anticipated. I will give you an overview of our performance this quarter, then Gianluca will go through the numbers in detail. I want to underscore that our Q1 results have left me reassured. The Zegna brand continues to show its strength, with a solid 7% organic growth this quarter and double-digit organic growth in most markets, including the U.S. and EMEA, where the brand is delivering outstanding results.
I'm also confident in the strength of our other two great Tom Ford Fashion is only beginning its journey with the group, and some key projects will be announced in the coming months, Thom Browne is opening an important new chapter, which I want to provide some color on. Thom Browne has been a critical factor of our success since it became part of our, the group, delivering sound double-digit growth every year, tripling its revenues. Its superior performance has been fueled by the capacity of the brand to closely engage with its community and capture certain sectors, trends, especially in Asia. In recent months, we have made the difficult decision to reduce Thom Browne exposure to the wholesale channel. We took direct control of the brand's operation in Korea, where the brand has strong recognition and is performing ahead of the sector.
In China, we have reinforced our regional management team. We've also worked on the collections themselves to protect the exclusivity of the highly recognizable products. All this will further enhance Thom Browne long-term value. While it will take some time to reap the rewards of this decision, our indicators already confirm that the brand is strong and that our action will make it even stronger. Some of the evidence we have of that includes: the success of the Saks activation for top client in the U.S., largely focused on women ready-to-wear, proving the good response on this category and on accessories. The strong response that we achieved on the Frette partnership, which we just launched at an exhibition during the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
The endless success of Thom Browne fashion shows, and the many friends of the brand who continue to be attracted to it, search for it, and proudly wear it, and constantly proving their loyalty. Last but not least, the brand's continued success in the very important Japanese market. Let me also say a few words specifically on China in general, and for the Zegna brand in particular. The Chinese market is currently experiencing a normalization phase for COVID, which is good news. For Zegna, the China market was the last to launch the One Brand Strategy. It is also where the entry to luxury offer was higher than other regions. We're still working on brand awareness, client experience in store, and merchandising, but even more, we are working on creating brand experiences.
At the end of May, we had an important private event in Shanghai, the first-ever client-focused event organized in China. It is by invitation only and reserved for our very important client, customer, and prospects. Alessandro Sartori, Zegna Creative Director, Leo Wu, the brand ambassador, and my two sons, Edoardo and Angelo attend. It will be an immersive experience into the Zegna world, into the brand's deep legacy, essence, and authenticity. And we just did in Milan, we will bring Oasi Zegna to China, and we also will bring the Oasi Lino project to Shanghai. We know that what Zegna started with the One Brand Strategy is a journey, which I like to think of like building a house. The Zegna brand house has strong foundations, now we need to build the floors.
We know this will take time, but we also know that the Zegna house has always been on unique foundations that can't be replicated by anyone else. It is the brand's unique legacy that will continue to foster our success in China and around the world. Earlier, I mentioned Oasi Zegna Milano. Let me use the last few minutes to explain what we did during the Salone del Mobile, something I'm really extremely proud, the launch of Oasi Zegna in Milano. During our last call, I mentioned we were going to take over the city of Milan during the Design Week, with the launch of Oasi Zegna Milano, the donation of the flower bed to our home city, and the immersive experience at our headquarters, open to the public for one week to launch the Born in Oasi Zegna book by Rizzoli.
This has been a unique opportunity to increase the knowledge of the Oasi Zegna and boost the desirability of the brand. Well, when I told you, you—we were going to take over the city, I personally was not expecting such an incredible outcome. More than 26,000 people visited the installation in six days, and we also organized special dinners for our friends, Circle, with enlightening moments for our top customers. Record revenue ever between our Milanese stores, led by the Montenapoleone shop. We created also three tote bags based on the graphics of the book, that were given to visitors in four locations of the city and terminated within 15 minutes every day, and we had queues of people waiting to receive one. The tote quickly became a must-have of the Salone, especially among Generation X and Generation Y attendees.
Some 500 articles worldwide covering the event. Last but not least, Zegna also won the Fuorisalone Award of Sustainability. We noticed that we accomplished all this without talking about product. This was all through providing unique experiences and through living out our values and our legacy. In one word, through our authenticity and creating a dream around our brand. As you recall, giving back has always been a part of Zegna. It is part of our history and embedded in our DNA. This is what the founder taught me, and he led by example, that we must support and give back to our communities, our cities, and to the planet, and to our home.
I think that we have to give a big hug to the team because of this great accomplishment, and I know this is another step, an important one, in building an even stronger brand in the direction we have been pursuing since the launch of the One Brand Strategy, to make Zegna the best brand in menswear and luxury. As I said, this is just one step. Others will follow. After Milano, Shanghai will be the second city where we will bring Oasi Zegna, and you will need to wait to find out the third, which is already planned, and I promise you it will be worth the wait. Thank you for your attention, and let me now turn to Gianluca to go into the financials in details.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Thank you, Gildo. Good afternoon, everybody. Let's move to page nine of the presentation, where you find our consolidated revenues for the quarter and the by segment information. First of all, let me make a general comment. As you know, Q1 consolidated Tom Ford Fashion business, which was integrated in the group since April 29th, 2023, and includes also the consolidation and acquisition of the South Korean business for Thom Browne on July 1st, 2023, and for Zegna, the Korean business, on January 1st, 2024. Pursuant to which, the group started to directly operate the business for Thom Browne and for Zegna in that market. Therefore, when we refer to organic revenue growth, we neutralize from the group perimeter, the Tom Ford Fashion addition and the Korean-related changes in scope, and we apply also the constant currency approach.
In line with Q1 outlook provided during the last conference call on April the fifth, in the first quarter of this year, group revenues reached EUR 463 million, up 8% year-over-year, 11% when we exclude three percentage point of negative currency headwind. On an organic basis, revenues were down 5%. Zegna segment recorded positive growth... +2% on a reported, reported basis and +4% on an organic basis, notwithstanding the textile product line, which recorded a sluggish performance. Currencies have been a headwind in the quarter for the group, and also for the Zegna segment, mainly related to renminbi and to a lesser extent, to the yen and to the U.S. dollar depreciation compared to one year ago. As anticipated in the quarter, Thom Browne segment revenues declined 30% reported, and 35% on an organic basis.
I will comment in detail later on this performance. Let me only anticipate that the decline has been driven not only by a demanding base of comparison, looking at Q1 of last year, namely in wholesale, but also by the decision to streamline the Thom Browne wholesale channel and by some sector challenges in the Tom Ford Fashion segment recorded EUR 65 million revenue. Given that Q1 of Tom Ford Fashion was not part of the group, we do not have a base of comparison. I will provide some more Tom Ford Fashion later in the presentation. Here, I can just add that the performance has been in line with our expectations. The brand CEO and his team are working to set the basis for the future development of the brand.
Moving now to page 10 of the presentation, we can look at the revenues by brand and product line. In Q1 of this year, Zegna brand recorded a solid +7% organic growth. The product categories that contributed the most to this performance are, of course, our Triple Stitch shoe family, which continued to deliver sound double-digit growth, also thanks to the success of the Second Skin drop. But also, there was a positive trend on luxury leisurewear and our proprietary Made-to-Measure business. As we already commented, Thom Browne brand performance, as much as for the segment, declined for our decision to reduce the wholesale business, and also as a consequence of lower than expected DTC results, in particular, in Greater China Region.
In this performance, there is centrally the decision to protect the Thom Browne key branded products and their desirability by limiting their exposure, in particular online. Tom Ford Fashion, let me make a quick comment on the new collections designed by Peter Hawkings, which has been introduced in stores from February with good sales performance. Of course, it is still early, but I would say that the initial signs are positive. A quick word on textile, the sluggish, which is -1% organic performance of this product line, reflects the cautious outlook that we are observing in this B2B sector, with many companies being cautious on their raw material orders. Under the other revenue line, we now include mainly the revenues that we generate with third-party brands.
This line of business can now be considered marginal, since with the acquisition of 100% Tom Ford International, we integrated the Tom Ford Fashion business within the group, while before it was accounted within the third-party brands revenues. This explains the substantial decline reported, given the change in scope. Moving now to revenues by distribution channel at page 11. I would limit the comments here because we will then analyze this performance by channel, specifically for each brand, which I believe will provide you more insights. Still, a couple of quick comments. DTC channel grew 20% year-over-year, or 3% organic, driving the group performance, thanks to Zegna brand positive contribution and thanks to the integration Tom Ford DTC channel.
In the quarter, DTC accounted for 71% of group revenues or 77% of the three brands, that is excluding textile and other revenues lines that are, by definition, B2B and wholesale. The wholesale performance for the three brands, Zegna, Thom Tom Ford Fashion, was negative 12% year-over-year and 26% organic, reflecting the negative performance at Thom Browne wholesale, and we already mentioned the acquisitions of the Korean businesses, which were converted from wholesale to retail. Of course, these two effects have been partially offset by the positive Tom Ford Fashion addition. moving to page 12, with the split by geography. Before commenting the performance by region, let me underline that we have partially revised, and I believe simplified the way we report revenues by geographical area, in line with sector's best practice. We therefore now report EMEA, the Americas.
We continue to report the revenues from the Greater China Region and the rest of Asia, the rest of APAC altogether. Looking at the EMEA. EMEA recorded a negative 6.5% growth organic, exclusively related to Thom Browne performance, in particular for the wholesale channel, while Zegna was double-digit positive in both channels in the region, and Middle East continued to drive the growth of the region with outstanding double-digit growth. Moving to Americas, this region recorded a strong +10% growth on an organic basis and +58%, Tom Ford Fashion integration. zegna DTC revenues significantly outperformed the organic growth of the region. U.S., Mexico, and Brazil have been the best performer markets.
U.S. in particular, the most important market, of course, of the area, reported organic growth higher than the average of the region, thanks to Zegna brand outstanding double-digit performance in U.S. Greater China Region revenues declined by 13% organic, with Thom Browne significantly below this mark and Zegna down single digits. As Gildo mentioned in his introductory speech, the sector is seeing a normalization phase in GCR after the immediate post-COVID bounce back, and we are seeing a more cautious consumer outlook, especially on the side of the aspirational clients. With Zegna brand, we can confirm that the high-end market is overperforming. For instance, our Second Skin drop performed extremely well in China, and the ultra-luxury trunk shows we are organizing are delivering above expectations results, and also Made-to-Measure orders are growing nicely.
So Thom Browne also is working on its top of the pyramid clientele, and more importantly, we have reinforced the management team, and I expect that some initial results should be visible towards the end of the year. In the rest of APAC, let me underline the strong performance in Japan for all our three brands. In terms of cluster of nationality, I will anticipate a question that I know you might ask. For Zegna DTC, the U.S. cluster keeps on growing on a solid double-digit pattern compared to last year, while the cluster of Zegna clients from Greater China is slightly negative versus Q1 of last year, even if Chinese are buying more outside China, both in Europe and even more in Japan. But you know that for Zegna brand, in particular, the largest part, part of Chinese buy domestically.
Therefore, the trend of revenues in GCR as a region is not that different from the trend of the cluster of Chinese residents itself. Let's now move to the brand breakdown by channel, starting at page 15 by the Zegna brand. In Q1, Zegna DTC revenues grew by 6.3 organic, accounting at this point for 85% of the brand revenues. The DTC channel recorded sound double-digit organic sales growth in EMEA, in Americas, and rest of Asia Pacific, while GCR was, as I said before, mid-single digit negative. In the quarter, the brand opened 24 net new stores, from 253 at the end of last year to 277 at the end of March of this year.
Within these 24 net openings, 16 are the stores converted in Korea from wholesale to retail, four are shop-in-shop converted into concession in North America, and the remaining net four are two in travel retail, Zurich and Shanghai, and the last two are openings in China, Nanjing, and one in Paris, La Samaritaine. Wholesale for Zegna brand recorded a +9% organic, again, deducting the effect of Korea, with good growth in all markets. I remember that since spring 2024, we are moving the merchandising calendar of our collections towards a buy drop approach, which will influence the time of deliveries in the quarter. As anticipated, Q1 has benefited of some shift of deliveries from Q4 of last year to Q1.
In any event, we anticipate that for Zegna brand, the wholesale business in the year is expected to be flattish versus 2023 in organic terms, which means, again, taking aside the Korean takeover effects. Moving to page 17, the breakdown by channel for Thom Browne. In Q1, DTC grew by 4.4%, which is a -14%, excluding the effect of the conversion from wholesale to retail of the Korean business. Rest of APAC for Thom Browne outperformed, especially in Japan. Americas performed better than the average. GCR underperformed versus last year.
Commenting the wholesale performance, let me underline that it has been impacted by three main effects: demanding base of comparison, Q1 of last year was a very important quarter of shipments, spring 2024 deliveries that have been accounted in Q4 of 2023, and more importantly, by the decision to rebalance the channel. The first two factors should be less relevant in the coming quarters, in particular in Q2 and Q3, while with regard to the wholesale selection, we expect it will continue also in the next quarters. However, the magnitude of this selection should be significantly lower. Let's now move to page 19 for a few Tom Ford Fashion, which reached EUR 65 million, with a DTC contribution close to 70% for the brand.
You know that quarterly performance cannot be considered as a proxy for year, and the results. This is true for most of the business, and it is even truer in this case for many reasons. First Tom Ford Fashion delivered some wholesale, spring wholesale orders in April. The new collection designed by Peter Hawkings hit the stores only March, contributing for revenues for only a few weeks. And last but not least, coming forth, the new openings are expected in the second part of the year. Therefore, to help you understand the trend of this brand, I would just add that Q1 contribution to Tom Ford Fashion's yearly revenues, it should be assumed closer to 20% rather than 25%.
Before moving to Q&A, let me just comment on page 21, that at the end of the quarter, the group has 417 DOS, an increase of 27 net versus December, of which we already commented 20 are coming from the wholesale to retail conversions of Zegna, Tom Ford in the quarter opened three small stores. And now I hand it over to the operator for the Q&A sessions.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Perfect. Thank you. Operator, you can open the Q&A session.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Please press star one if you'd like to ask a question, and ensure your device is unmuted locally when it's your turn to speak. If you change your mind or your question has already been answered, you can withdraw your question by pressing star two. Our first question today comes from Chris Huang of UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Chris Huang (Equity Research Analyst)
Hello. Hi, thanks for taking my questions. I have three. Firstly, on current trends, can you maybe give us an early indication of how things have shaped up recently as we're three weeks into the quarter? If it's too early to comment, maybe perhaps at least some sense of how March has performed relative to the overall Q1. Secondly, on trends by consumer nationality for the Zegna DTC, I know you commented a little bit high-level, but is it possible to kind of further quantify? Is it fair to say that Chinese is probably down low- to mid-single-digit year-over-year? And how are the European consumers, the local Europeans doing, for Zegna in Q1?
Last but not least, on Thom Browne, I know you commented that you're expecting some more wholesale impact, for the coming quarters, but with a smaller magnitude. Can you just maybe, deep dive more a little bit into what kind of magnitude are we expecting here? Is this still gonna be double-digit, high teens? Any color on that would be super helpful. Thank you very much.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Thank you. Thank you, Chris. I think they're all questions for Gianluca. Just on the first one, when you ask about the exit rate in March, did you ask for China or in general? Sorry, I didn't get it.
Chris Huang (Equity Research Analyst)
If possible, in general, and also on China.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Yeah. Okay.
Chris Huang (Equity Research Analyst)
The more color, the better. Thank you.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Of course. Gianluca.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
So, hi, Chris. The March exit rate at group level was roughly in line with the quarter trend. Of course, here, it makes sense. My comment is more on the exit rate of the DTC, because wholesale follows its delivery schedule. So I would say that DTC is basically not different, March versus the quarter. In terms of nationality, I think you asked about China. We are closer to the mid-single digit.
Chris Huang (Equity Research Analyst)
Not double-digit.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Not double-digit.
Chris Huang (Equity Research Analyst)
For Zegna?
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
For Zegna, we have, we have observed a good increase in Europe and Japan. As, as we have already commented in other terms, anyway, more than 90% of the spending of residents in Greater China fall into the stores of Greater China itself. So we are talking about an important growth on a smaller part of the business, because as we have already commented, our clients tend to appreciate more the service on a local basis, also considering alterations, for instance. So it's an important growth, but on that size slice of the business, which is slightly less than 10%.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Europe loss, Europe, demand.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Europe demand is very solid. I think our growth is across all the markets, it's above the double-digit mark. So we are in Europe, continental Europe, I think we always detach the good performance in Middle East and Dubai, but also in continental Europe, we are seeing a very healthy trend. So I think that is on the Zegna side, the only point that Gildo's remark was the execution of the One Brand Strategy in Greater China, and where we have positive sign of traction on the high-end consumers, and the rest of the world is performing extremely well.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
We'll say Thom Browne, the next quarter, so what?
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
The next quarter, we are not expecting a 50% decline, much lower, probably still in the double-digit range.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Okay. We can go with the second... Thank you, Chris. If we can go with the second question.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Anthony Charchafji from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Anthony Charchafji (Equity research in Luxury Goods)
Yes, thank you. Good morning. It's Anthony Charchafji from BNP Paribas. I hope you're well. I just have three questions, please. The first one, if you can tell us the price increases year to date by brand. That would be the first question. My second question would Tom Ford Fashion at EUR 65 million in Q1. Would you be able to say if it was up year-on-year versus the pro forma of Q1 2023? And as well, I mean, I understand that there might be some delay in terms of spring/summer delivery, so maybe it can be beneficial to Q2. And my third question would be on marketing.
I mean, it's very interesting, the activation in Milan with great traction. I mean, as Zegna, sales are highly concentrated to few customers, do you think that opening the brand to a greater audience is the way to go, or do you prefer to further increase the business with existing clients, so in a way, staying very exclusive? Thank you.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Okay, thank you. Thank you, Anthony. The first one are for, for Gianluca, and then I'll leave, for the third, the interesting one on the marketing to, to Gildo.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Hi, Anthony. So the price increase, after fall/winter 2024, we anticipated that our price increases would be on the low single digit side, so more to offset cost, rather than increasing really the price on a price strategy positioning. So we are going with this pattern. We have gone with this pattern on spring 2024, and also fall 2024 is following the same logic, small adjustments. So the big step up, we said, is already behind us. In terms of EUR 64 million Tom Ford, yes, as I said, the 20% and not 25%, includes the fact that we are expecting the next quarters, Q2, to be higher than than Q1. Also through timing of deliveries, but also thanks to all the actions, openings that we are planning to do.
In terms of marketing, I think, Gildo, you want to take it on the marketing side, whether we are exclusive or not?
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
Yes. On marketing, I think that what we have done in Milan proves our authority and the opportunity that we have to increase the desirability of all the brands. So I think that we'll be acting in two avenues. On one side, increase our forte in very important clients. Today, we have 4% of the client that gives us 40% of the revenue. I think that we probably can go slightly higher than that in the future by doing what we did in Milan around the world. So I think that the Shanghai event we expect quite a lot. We will have in September another important event in New York to go in the same direction.
That will take advantage of our personalization project that takes into consideration bespoke, special items, and very high value items that the customer can buy by appointment only, and they cannot find in the store. So I think that this is one thing. The other side is icons. The Triple Stitch Second Skin has been the highlight of the season in terms of iconic products. And I must say that an interesting part of those customers are new. So that surely will drive an additional business, and the goal is to have those customers come back to us, not only seeking and buying one product.
I do believe that amplification we got in Milan with all these young people can drive additional customer into the store and into the online business. I must say that the e-tailer business this season has been quite good for the Zegna brand, and surely all these promotion helped to go in that direction.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Thank you.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Thank you.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Anthony, I don't know if we leave the floor to another question. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question comes from Oliver Chen of TD Cowen. Please go ahead.
Katy Rakestraw (VP)
Hi, there. Thank you. This is Katy on, for Oliver Chen. Congratulations on the strong growth within the U.S. We just want to ask a quick question around that U.S. growth and how much of that is related to strength within the D2C channel, and how would you characterize the relative health of the U.S. consumer versus other clientele, you know, across the globe, between Europe as well as China and Japan? And then the follow-up to that is really around tourism. What are your expectations for tourism this year, specifically from China? Thank you. That's it.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
... So sorry, Katy, the first question is on the U.S. market or the U.S. nationalities? Maybe it was not that clear to us, what you ask?
Katy Rakestraw (VP)
The first question is, Sure, apologies. The first question is on the U.S. growth, and what were the key drivers for the growth in the U.S. market?
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Okay, perfect.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Clearly for a Zegna-
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
Yeah, for Zegna brand. Now, thank you. I think we are quite unique in the growth. If you see the traction we gained last year and this year, we are growing quite different from most of other brands, because we decided to focus on the high end of the market, and we decided to become more retailer and less wholesaler. And I think that we increased the personalization factor, we increased the service factor, and we have created this incredible form of outreach phenomenon by which we can attract customer by an application that our sales associate have, and they can propose the new style and direction or the new drop that we receive in merchandise on monthly basis.
So I think that there, it has been a mix of focus of, and, and, and, going ahead and converting a more wholesale into concession. And so I can make you the last example, the Saks Fifth Avenue store that we converted, well, last year, I mean, has proven to be extremely productive. We'll be converting the biggest, our biggest Neiman Marcus store in L.A. in the second half of the year. We'll be converting entirely our major customer in Canada, Harry Rosen, several doors in the second half of the year. And this doesn't mean a drop, the wholesale customer is working with them, because I do believe that there is a number of good customer, wealthy customer that likes then to shop at Neiman, at Saks, at Nordstrom.
And so, we'd like to make sure that they stay with us, but with a different approach, more utilizing all the strength of our brand and making sure that, you know, we can create a scale in sales staff, in merchandise, in marketing, and following, I mean, the different journey of the customer. So I think that this has been the strength that we utilize in America, and we see that it can only go better. I probably forgot to tell you the most important thing, the rebranding.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Thanks.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
The fact that Zegna decided to move not away from the power suit into luxury leisurewear, wardrobe, which is in line with the new trend of, not only of American, but of top customer, and we have done it very, very well. I think that, really, is worth the starter. I must say that, the fact that we went, IPO Wall Street, truly was quite a, an incredible marketing tool because, you know, American, like to invest in the brand they believe in, and so I think that, was a good, support. So, I think these are the reason why America journey has been, ahead of many other countries. And last but not least, the team.
I think that we have a super high-end retail-oriented team, very customer-centric, that has been able to accelerate what we started a couple of years ago. And I think that in many success the team is playing an incredible part. And so when we said that we are relatively positive on the outcome of the other brands we are taking some measures to make major changes into the retail world and to follow what Zegna has done so well in the United States.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
The second one on tourism, I think, is for Gianluca.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
I add just one point to be sure. So the growth in America is of course, the conversion and all the... But there is also positive comps in-
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Very positive comps.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Very positive comps. So it's not just about moving wholesale dollars into retail, but the like for like doors of Zegna brand are-
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Very, very-
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Very solid, team positive. So that was an-
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
I think something that was referring, that, when we become retailers, not only we convert, but actually we accelerate the growth of those.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
No, the productivity, sure.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Of course.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
We, we said it, that the productivity increased 50%, and, and to be honest with you, there is an opportunity also to open more store. I think that,
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Yes.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
That's another... We have done some, you know, opening this year and most probably more will come next year.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
On tourism, how we see the tourism flow in globally for the year and for Venice and in general? Yeah.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
We are seeing the Americans very present in Europe, like last year, also in Q1. We are seeing Chinese very present in Japan, to a lower extent, Southeast Asia, of course, Hong Kong. Probably less so in Macau, probably less so than it used to be. But that is the area where we are not seeing yet solid attraction. We are seeing Middle Eastern very solid in Europe. Those are-
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Yes.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
We expect we had a record season last summer in Europe with American and Middle Eastern, and we do expect to have a similar attraction this year. In particular, because in Europe we have several opening in some good resort areas, some resort areas where not. I can tell you that the few winter resort area, I mean, have proven to be successful. There are small stores, but you know, the customer sees the brands and I think these will accelerate.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Okay. I think we answer your question. If any, you can come back later, and I think we have another question from the audience.
Operator (participant)
The next question is from Louise Singlehurst of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Louise Singlehurst (Managing Director)
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I'll stick to two, please. Just in terms of the outlook, I wondered if you could just confirm, obviously, happy with the above 10% sales CAGR, the 20% EBIT CAGR, medium term, and if there's anything in the period that you've seen that makes you feel differently about any of the regions. Obviously, we've talked about the China, U.S. and European cluster. And then my second question, just given the weakness in China, which, isn't a surprise given the tough comp base, but is there anything that we should be considering for the margin implications for the Zegna brand, with a negative, drag from China for the first half? Thank you.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Thank you, Louise. I'll leave to Gianluca. I think to both of them, then if Gildo wants to add anything.
Gianluca Tagliabue (Group COO and CFO)
Hi, Louise. So, yeah, we are confirming the outlook for the midterm we disclosed in New York, so there are no changes in our outlook. And as it refers to China, of course, being cautious, we are activating also actions to protect the bottom line on the cost side without hurting the long-term health of the brand. So for instance, the big event in Shanghai in May, we keep on doing it. We are not changing totally the direction, but there, of course, some discretionary OpEx that we can control are in our target in order to offset the revenue softness, also working on the cost line in China.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
Well, I think that one important point is that we are managing the inventory in an attentive way, in a careful way this year. So, probably, some special attention will go to the level of inventory to make sure that we have the right things, but that we don't have too much. I think that we never talk enough about the fact that we are an integrated chain, thanks also to the textile platform. I think that through the integrated supply chain, we can surely do a good job to control the level of inventory. I think that this is probably the area in which we are putting a lot of attention.
As a matter of fact, we will have our team, a quarter team traveling through several cities in China to understand, you know, if the merchandising degree among cities has to be changed, or what we can do, you know, to enhance the attraction of our brand, and in particular, to contribute to this, the new development of the new Zegna branding, as we did in the States.
Louise Singlehurst (Managing Director)
Thank you very much. That's very clear.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Okay, I think we are. I don't know if there is any last question. Otherwise, I think we can close the call. Operator, is there any follow-up questions?
Operator (participant)
No follow-up questions at the moment, but as a reminder, please press star followed by one if you'd like to join the queue.
Paola Durante (Chief of External Relations)
Okay, in any case, I just get the opportunity to thank you, everybody. I'm sure that there will be a follow-up question for us. So first of all, thank you for all the questions that, as usual, are very, very interesting for us. We are here, Alice, Alice Poggioli and myself, we are here for any follow-up question. If you need, just call us, and, we will together reconvene in this call for the first half of 2024 preliminary revenues on July 25. Thank you to everybody, and, speak to you soon. Thank you.
Gildo Zegna (Group CEO)
Goodbye.
Operator (participant)
This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your line.