Bebe
The sales of this fashion retailer started declining when Neda Mashouf, its creative director, left after she divorced her husband in 2007. Manny Mashouf started the company in 1979. According to RetailDive, the declining popularity of malls played a major role in the challenges that Bebe is now facing. It reportedly had an operating loss of $4.6 million in 2017.
Bebe
The company attempted to remedy the situation by staying away from the usual retail space. It paid out $65 million to close its physical stores and focused solely on e-commerce. Forbes reported that in 2016, Bebe had a total of 180 stores. What Bebe went through might be common for retailers but Pier 1 has an unusual problem…
Pier 1 Imports
Jeffries, a research and strategy company, reported that 2018, for Pier 1, would be a “heavy investment year” as it would be handling its “sourcing, merchandising, pricing, marketing, store ops, e-com, and supply chain.” A 9.2 percent drop in the net sales was seen in the first quarter of 2018 which translates to $371.9 million year over year. Pier 1’s credit rating was also downgraded by S&P Global analysts.
Pier 1
Oh no! What’s more? Trumps 10 percent tariff against Chinese goods is another card against them. Pier 1 once reported that over half of the goods they sell are made in China. Pier 1 needs a new solution to its problems, but we hope it won’t be the same as Lands’ End’s methods.
