JD Sports Says Weather, Election and Jordan Pullback Impacted Q3 Sales, But Retailer Gained US Market Share
The third quarter got off to a strong start for JD Sports. But elevated promotional activity, a cautious consumer and mild October weather eventually made for a more volatile trading environment in U.K and North America through the latter half of the quarter.
JD Sports chief executive officer Régis Schultz said in a release that in the U.S., “suppressed demand” ahead of the presidential election impacted performance in the key region for the global retailer. Sales in North America overall declined 1.5 percent in the quarter.
JD Sports, which will be honored with the 2024 Footwear News Achievement Award for Best Retailer in December, has recently pushed into the U.S. market via acquisitions, brand partnerships and store openings. In July, JD closed the acquisition of American retailer Hibbett and added 1,179 stores to its portfolio across the U.S. in markets outside of JD’s existing fleet.
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“We are gaining share in U.S. and our market share is around 5 percent,” Schultz said in a Thursday call with analysts. “In the U.S. market, we have seen what we have seen in the last 12 months, which is the fact that the market is performing well at peak periods.”
Schultz also reaffirmed the retailer’s strong relationship with its key brand partner, Nike, and its new chief executive officer, Elliott Hill. Nike recently made the decision to pull back some of its key Jordan products to reignite demand in North America, a decision that has impacted some key retailers like JD. However, Schultz said the retailer is still on track to receive hot products for important sales moments.
“We will see some high heat products for the key holiday period. We have some Jordan high heat product and some Nike high heat product,” Schultz said. “For me, it’s all good news in terms of the relationship, in terms of the way of thinking and the way of working. We feel really good about what will happen in the U.S. market following the appointment of Elliott.”
Across all regions, JD delivered organic sales growth of 5.4 percent and like-for-like sales decline of 0.3 percent for the quarter.
