Businesses failing to adapt to changing markets are as American as apple pie and college football. But I'm optimistic about clothes and apparel vendor Express' future, as they have phoned in America’s premier turnaround smoke: Kate Upton.
Kate’s already proven commodity she can boost magazine sales. Why wouldn’t her skills translate to selling clothes?
Since Express went public in 2010, the retailer has struggled in sales and interest. Four years of stagnant growth and declining relevancy convinced the company to enlist its first celebrity spokeswoman in over a decade.
The Motley Fool asked "How Could Kate Upton Help Save Express?"
Decreased traffic and heightened promotional activity stunted first-quarter 2014 earnings growth for Express. In the first quarter of 2014, the company's e-commerce sales decreased 2% compared with the first quarter a year ago. Lower e-commerce sales resulted from decreased traffic to the express.com website.
Decreased online traffic was consistent with decreased traffic at Express retail locations, too. Comparable sales, excluding e-commerce sales, decreased 12% from one year ago, and both net income and earnings per share decreased 84% compared with the first quarter of 2013. For the fiscal quarter ended May 3, Express reported a profit of $5.1 million, compared with $32.4 million a year earlier.
Those are pretty bleak numbers, so it makes sense to hire a ray of sunshine like Kate.
If fashion designers are already adjusting their clothes for women built like Kate, why not get the real Kate to sell the clothes to them?
Express announced March 12 that Upton would be the new face of the fashion brand. The company says she was chosen for three reasons: She's fresh, she's sexy, and she's iconic. In the press release announcing the partnership between Express and the young supermodel, Chairman and CEO Michael Weiss said that the "new partnership highlights the mutual admiration between Express and Kate and is the culmination of two iconic American establishments coming together."
The fall 2014 denim collection is inspired by Upton's favorite jeans, and the ad campaign hinges on her claim that she grew up wearing Express jeans. Express is hoping to capitalize on what it considers to be Upton's "true American girl" identity, which is reflective of the target Express brand consumer.
True. American.
The Kate Upton business is good and business is booming.
Kate Upton is such good business, even her relatives are gaining visibility from being associated with the super smoke. Express still needs to prove that it can run a good business to go along with all of the good money they're paying Kate. Kate's cousin Ariel backs up her cousin's encouraging tweet with a fairly solid debut LP.
How can Kate Upton save Express? Well she’s got me writing about them.
The real question: How can Kate Upton save America?
