JLo and Marc Anthony find bliss - if only at Kohl's

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/10/2011 2:45:39 PM

Menomonee Falls, Wis. - As she often does in other venues, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez stole the spotlight at Kohl's in 3Q with the launch of her exclusive apparel, accessories and home brand.

The Jennifer Lopez collection - along with a collection of menswear and accessories licensed by her estranged husband, entertainer Marc Anthony - achieved the retailer's lofty expectations following its launch in mid-September.

Kevin Mansell, chairman, president and ceo said the his-and-hers program, "met our aggressive sales plans, and exceeded the size of any previous brand launch by a substantial degree in sales."

The JLo/Marc Anthony program was the largest merchandise launch in the company's history, rolling out at all of Kohl's 1,127 units in 49 states and www.kohls.com concurrently across multiple departments.

On that note, private and exclusive brands "continue to increase in penetration," having nabbed 51% of Kohl's 3Q sales, up about 270 basis points.

In the private brand portfolio, apt. 9, So and urban Pipeline all reported double-digit increases, as did Fila Sport, Food Network, Lauren Conrad, Mudd, and Simply Vera Vera Wang, he said.

Currently, home makes up about one-third of Kohl's ecommerce business versus less than 20% of the retailer's total business.

August performance lagged, but results in September and October came in on the high-end of Kohl's guidance, he said. Home comps fell in line with company average, according to Mansell.

Net income jumped 20% to $211 million, or 80 cents per share. Sales rose 3.8% to $4.4 billion, with comps up 2.1%.

Year to date, earnings per share increased 26% to $2.56 and net income grew 13.6% to $711 million, or $2.03 per diluted share, in the same period last year.

Sales for the nine months were up 3.5% to $12.8 billion, and comparable store sales increased 1.7%.

Because of the strong third quarter performance and its expectations for the fourth quarter, Kohl's raised its fiscal 2011 guidance to $4.41 to $4.52 per share from $4.34 to $4.49 per share.