Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber is supremely confident in her company’s position in the marketplace, its ability to capture brand loyalty, and to evolve the customer experience.
During the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Aug. 26, Alber discussed these very important points.
“We have an intense focus on the evolving shopping patterns of our customers and the opportunity we have to deliver an exceptional experience,” Alber said, according to Seeking Alpha. “As always, we are focused on disciplined execution against our long-term growth initiative. In ecommerce, we are improving our onsite search experience, personalizing content on our website, and enhancing our mobile shopping experience. Across all these initiatives, we made meaningful progress in the second quarter.”
Net sales for Williams-Sonoma grew 8.5% in the second quarter.
“New customer growth is one of our key priorities and we continue to test ways to acquire new customers,” Alber explained. “We believe we have a strong lineup to the second-half of the year. As one example, this month, Pottery Barn launched its first collaboration with San Francisco-based interior designer and tastemaker Ken Fulk. Brand collaborations attract new customers, test new aesthetics, and broaden our social media reach. We are pleased with the results of this first capital assortment. We are planning a robust program of design collaborations over the next year. We believe we have an outstanding lineup in Pottery Barn Kids this holiday season. The third quarter marks the launch of holiday collections, and the team has outdone themselves with the combination of magical dream room plus innovative gifting for every age and stage. We plan to own decorating the family home for the holidays with our biggest ever assortment of seasonal decor and furnishing.”
Williams-Sonoma introduced a partnership with American Girl on an exclusive line of bakeware culinary classes.
“The partnership was launched in June with cooking classes in our retail locations that has been an outstanding success,” Alber noted. “The new line of premium American Girl branded products including baking sets, utensils, food mixes and a cook book will be available this fall.”
During the third quarter, Williams-Sonoma plans to launch more than three times the number of new product lines than in the same period last year.
“Highlights include our ongoing expansion of Williams-Sonoma branded products with the launch of Williams-Sonoma Stainless Steel Professional and Williams-Sonoma Hard-Anodized Dishwasher-Safe cookware lines,” Alber said.
What’s more, Williams-Sonoma is partnering with Fortessa Tableware Solutions on an exclusive table-top collection that will be featured at select Fairmont Hotels and sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma.
“The Williams-Sonoma team continues to be intensely focused on evolving the retail experience,” Alber said.
Newer brands Rejuvenation along with Mark and Graham delivered strong growth domestically, Alber said.
“We continue to be very encouraged by the solid trends we are seeing in Rejuvenation,” Alber said.