Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

So that is together worth about 200 basis points of headwind to the first half of the year, and it essentially — it disappears in the second half. We’ll be fully lapping those things. And then the. Last thing is — well, actually, two more things. One of them is the Rack new store openings, I mentioned will begin in the spring, but the cumulative effect of the first half won’t be very big. It will be worth about 150 basis points to the second half of the year, though. And then finally, the anniversary timing shift that one week, it’s a couple of hundred basis points between Q2 and Q3. That roughly equates to about 100 basis points between half one and half two. So — you put all those things together, and it gets us to a low double-digit decrease in the first half of the year and low single-digit increase in the back half.

Matthew Boss: Very, helpful.

Operator: Next is Noah Zatzkin with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Noah Zatzkin: Thanks for taking my question. Just any color on what you’ve been seeing in the promotional environment exiting the year, particularly as it relates to the planned cadence of gross margin moving through the year would be helpful. obviously, compares become easier in the back half. But with inventory in a healthier position exiting the year, just any color on puts and takes we should be thinking about would be helpful. Thank you.

Pete Nordstrom: Yes. This is Pete. The biggest factor on our promotions has to do with our own inventory levels. So, you saw it increased markdown level in the fourth quarter for us, and that was largely our own doing. There was regular promotional activity happening to competition that we had to respond to. But most of that was really our own things. So, I think what you should see going forward to this next year is a more normal rhythm of how promotions impact our business. We can’t control what’s going on with the other retailers and what their inventory position is that. And at a certain level, we have to be responsive to that. So, we’ll see how that plays out. But for now, we can tell you with a lot of Confidence that we’re going to return to more normal markdown cadence because our inventory is in much better position.

Michael Maher: And Noah, it’s Michael. I’ll just add to that, that our outlook for gross margin assumes a more normalized level of markdown. So not any kind of historic best or anything like that, but just a normal cadence at a normal level. We do have some remaining pockets that we expect we’ll be clearing in the first half of the year. That’s contemplated in there as well. But then just through greater inventory discipline and turns, we would expect, as you go against that elevated level of markdowns in the fourth quarter that we should see some meaningful improvement.

Noah Zatzkin: Thank you. Very helpful.

Operator: Next is Blake Anderson with Jefferies.

Blake Anderson: Thanks for taking my question. So, I wanted to ask, on the previous medium-term guide you provided a couple of years ago. Just thinking about the margin targets. I think you had said you could do a 4.5% margin — operating margin if you’re at least $14.5 billion in revenue, which is what your guide implies this year. you’re slightly below that on the margin guide. So how do we think about you bridging back to at least 4.5%? And then I wanted to revisit how you get back to that second target of 6% plus.