Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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And I think, as you kind of line that up, I’m not sure we’re a whole lot different on the bottom line than other people, but we just have not seen the product margin declines that we’ve been reading about across the market. So, I think, we got to — that’s really the strategy of what we’re doing. The last piece probably being, just remembering for us in particular, how important the screenable businesses to our business. Obviously, it’s a quicker term business. It’s something we can move on in a big way as we see things work and we’re focused on managing that piece as well. So, I think on the inventory side, going into Q4, we feel good about where we’re at. I think our guidance sort of implies. We did say margin would be down about 50 basis points, but in relation to what we’re seeing in the market, I think that’s a pretty strong and definitely strong in relation to kind of a multi-year look, if you were to do a three, four, five-year look at our product margin over time, I think you’d feel really good with kind of where we’re standing.

And overall, I just commend our buyers across all of our companies across the world that just — they’ve done a great job managing inventory in a very difficult cycle.

Richard Brooks: Yeah. I just want to add that, Corey, that again, we’re thinking about this long-term. We have to manage effectively through the short term challenges. And in doing that, when I say effective, part of that is managing our brand, and that’s how our brand as a Zumiez brand ties in with our multi-branded strategy, merging branding strategy, which is about price integrity for brands that have real equity for consumers. So, this is where — again, we might get to — we might have better product margins this environment. It might mean a little tougher on the sales line sometimes, but as Chris said, we get about the same place as everyone else. We’re just doing it differently. And I like to think the way that we are doing it is better — is a better long-term strategy and approach for the benefit of both us and the discipline around pricing for our business, but the discipline around pricing for our brand partners too, because we’re not eroding their brand equity.

Corey Tarlowe: That’s great. Thank you very much for all the color and best of luck.

Richard Brooks: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. I’m showing no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Rick Brooks for any closing remarks.

End of Q&A:

Richard Brooks: All right. Thank you very much. As always, we appreciate your interest. And as I said in the commentary, I just want to reiterate how confident I am in how we’re positioned the marketplace, our understanding of our consumer, what their behaviors that we’re trying to solve for here. As we look into the next few years, next three to five years, I want to tell you that we have the strategies, initiatives in place, the right investments as common insurance question to move those initiatives and strategies forward so that when we get through this cycle, we’re going to come out stronger than we’ve ever been and we’re going to gain market share. So, I remain really confident about our positioning where we’ve managed recycles like this before, we’re experienced doing it, and we’re going to come out this other side stronger and better and bigger. So, thank you everyone. We look forward to talking to you in March.

Operator: Thank you for participating. This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.

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