NASDAQ:VRA Vera Bradley Q2 2027 Earnings Report $4.62 +0.35 (+8.20%) Closing price 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$4.50 -0.13 (-2.71%) As of 07:55 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast Vera Bradley EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.11Consensus EPS -$0.08Beat/MissBeat by +$0.19One Year Ago EPS-$0.17Vera Bradley Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$71.65 millionExpected Revenue$65.96 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$5.69 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AVera Bradley Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2027Date9/15/2026TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateTuesday, September 15, 2026Conference Call Time8:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsVera Bradley's Q3 2027 earnings is estimated for Thursday, December 10, 2026, based on past reporting schedules, with a conference call scheduled at 8:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Vera Bradley Q2 2027 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrSeptember 15, 2026ShareShareShare This ReportLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Positive Sentiment: Direct revenue increased 8%, with comparable sales up 9.2% and positive performance across full-price and outlet channels. Management said this marked the fifth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement and cited strong back-to-school momentum. Positive Sentiment: Consolidated net income from continuing operations improved to $3.3 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, from a $0.5 million loss last year. Excluding a $7.7 million benefit from tariff refunds, underlying gross margin still expanded by more than 40 basis points. Positive Sentiment: The company strengthened its balance sheet, ending the quarter with $34.2 million in cash, no borrowings, and inventory down 28.4% year over year. Management expects inventory to decline further through fiscal year-end and reiterated at least 50% year-over-year improvement in non-GAAP operating profit. Negative Sentiment: Indirect-segment revenue fell 39% to $6.3 million due to marketplace timing changes and reduced liquidation sales, although strategic wholesale accounts posted mid-single-digit selling growth. Vera Bradley is rebuilding its in-house wholesale sales team and restructuring marketplace relationships, which may limit near-term reported revenue. Positive Sentiment: Management said its transformation initiatives are gaining traction, including stronger product assortments, improved outlet-store performance, more disciplined promotions, and the planned “One Vera” cross-channel strategy. Fiscal 2027 sales guidance was reiterated at $255 million to $270 million. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallVera Bradley Q2 202700:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Greetings. Welcome to Vera Bradley's second quarter fiscal 2027 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone today should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 from your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Dan Russ, general counsel. Thank you, Dan. You may begin. Dan RussGeneral Counsel at Vera Bradley00:00:28Good morning, and welcome everyone. We would like to thank you for joining us for today's call. Some of the statements made during our prepared remarks and in response to your questions may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to and within the meaning of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expect. Please refer to today's press release and the company's most recent Form 10-K filed with the SEC for a discussion of known risks and uncertainties. Investors should not assume that the statements made during the call will remain operative at a later time. We undertake no obligation to update any information discussed on today's call. Dan RussGeneral Counsel at Vera Bradley00:01:13I will now turn the call over to Vera Bradley's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ian Bickley. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:01:20Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Vera Bradley's second quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call. This was another strong quarter for us. We continued to build operational excellence across the business while making significant progress on our Project Sunshine transformation journey. This marked our second consecutive quarter of overall growth, with total revenue up 1.1% versus the prior year, an important continuation of the trajectory we discussed last quarter. While the pace of growth was more modest than the nearly 8% we delivered last quarter, the underlying health of the business continued to strengthen across our direct channels, our margin structure, and our balance sheet. That combination of continued top-line progress alongside real improvement in the fundamentals of the business is exactly what we set out to build when we launched this transformation. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:02:20And I want to walk you through why we remain confident in the path forward. Like the first quarter, our second quarter performance was not solely a top-line story. Gross margin expanded more than 40 basis points year-over-year, improvement that excludes refunds recognized in the quarter, which Marty will cover in more detail. That margin expansion was driven by several factors. Continued success in our product assortment work, an intensified marketing strategy anchored on cohesive social first brand storytelling, and enhanced planning and inventory management, and disciplined pricing and promotion governance. Together, these enabled us to further work down non-go-forward Project Restoration inventory while still improving our overall gross margin rate. We continued to manage our balance sheet and liquidity with discipline. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:03:19Inventory ended the quarter down 28% compared to the second quarter last year, and we generated $23 million of operating cash flow in the period, up $28 million from last year. We ended the second quarter in strong- Operator00:03:40Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. We are experiencing technical difficulties and we will resume momentarily. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Our conference will resume momentarily. Thank you. Thank you, Ian. Please continue. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:06:17Yes. Apologies everyone. We had some technical difficulties. Let me continue. We continued to manage our balance sheet and liquidity with discipline. Inventory ended the quarter down 28% compared to the second quarter last year, and we generated $23 million of operating cash flow in the period, up $23 million from $23 million from last year. We ended the second quarter in a strong financial position with $34 million of cash, double our prior year cash position, and no debt. Based on our year-to-date performance, we continue to expect our year-over-year non-GAAP operating loss improvement to be at least 50%, consistent with the guidance we shared last quarter. There is still significant work ahead of us, but I remain encouraged by what our second quarter results show. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:07:09The opportunity for us to grow market share and rebuild towards durable, profitable, cash generative growth remains substantial, and this quarter's progress gives us real conviction as we continue executing against our five transformation pillars. Before I walk through the details of the quarter, I want to thank our entire Vera Bradley team. What we're accomplishing across each of our strategic initiatives reflects their hard work, focus, and belief in this transformation, and in bringing Vera Bradley's cheerful optimism back to life while we build a more disciplined, higher-performing organization and operating model underneath it. Our Direct segment delivered revenue growth of 8% versus the prior year, our fifth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement in this channel, and an acceleration from roughly 4% growth achieved in the first quarter. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:08:08Comparable sales across our Direct channel, combining stores and digital, were up 9.2% for the quarter, our second consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, with growth in both our full price and outlet businesses. Our Direct segment represents more than 90% of our business and is the channel we control most directly. It also continues to be the best indicator of how our customers are responding to the product, marketing, and strategic distribution choices we are making. In our Indirect channel segment, due to intentional shifts in timing related to our marketplace strategy and reduction in liquidation sales, revenue contracted 39% compared to the prior year. The underlying performance in the Indirect channel remains strong, with mid-single digit overall selling growth to our strategic wholesale accounts, including leading specialty and key department store partners. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:09:07We continue to see this part of our wholesale business as the clearest evidence that our product and brand work is translating beyond our own Direct channels. As the back-to-school shopping season took hold in the back half of the quarter, our results accelerated, and we entered the third quarter with good momentum in both our full price and outlet channels. Back to school is a critical selling occasion for Vera Bradley, and our strong preparation, planning, and execution paid off with overall back-to-school business up versus last year. We continue to strategically manage our pricing and promotional cadence this quarter, staying disciplined on the number of promotional events and expanding gross margin, even as we drove continued sell-through of non-go-forward Project Restoration inventory. We've made good progress and are now past the halfway point on working through our legacy inventory. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:10:05Now let me provide an update on our continued progress against the five strategic transformation pillars of Project Sunshine, with a particular focus on where we saw the most meaningful movement this quarter and where we focused as we head into the second half of the year. Pillar one: sharpening our brand focus. As we have discussed on prior calls, sharpening our brand focus is fundamentally about bringing our unique brand positioning back to life through compelling product, authentic storytelling, and strategic distribution choices. Our back to school and holiday collections marked the first quarter with 100% of the assortment reflecting our collective work, an important milestone as we continue re-engaging lapsed customers and attracting new customers across channels. Our focus product strategies continue to resonate. Cotton continued its return to historic levels of importance, and our more intentional IP collaborations contributed meaningfully to the quarter. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:11:10Hello Kitty was a standout in brand, timed well against back to school with a strong assortment and relevant marketing campaign. The best example of the right collaboration, the right product, and the right occasion coming together in a compelling and brand-enhancing manner. The reintroduction of Winnie the Pooh in brand also continued to perform well. In outlet, our Star Wars droid collaboration performed well through June and early July, following earlier quarter success with Disney Princesses. We also continued to see success with Stitch and Honeydukes IP product. The successful return of Vera Originals also continued to reengage our longtime fans. We also saw continued validation of our shift towards introducing reimagined iconic styles and heritage prints. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:12:02This gives us continued confidence that our product strategy, grounded in the same brand attributes that define Vera Bradley Feminine, creative, cheerful, whimsical, joyful, fun, colorful, approachable, high quality, and smart value is the right one, and that it is durable across seasons and occasions rather than dependent on any single collaboration or moment. Under our new wholesale leadership, our key accounts continue to realize the benefit of improved assortment productivity and full price sell-through. We remain encouraged by the growing recognition of our brand momentum among leading retail partners, including existing and prospective wholesale accounts. Given our confidence in the future wholesale growth pipeline and our desire to rebuild this channel thoughtfully and with the right partners, we recently made the decision to reestablish our in-house sales team to accelerate growth while discontinuing our previous arrangement with a third-party sales representative agency. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:13:11On the marketing side, we continued our storytelling momentum from the spring, extending our joyful optimism creative into our back-to-school campaign, which shifted from a school-focused campaign to a lifestyle-driven, highlighting the versatility of our products across everyday moments. We featured enhanced back-to-school backpack comparison guides and messaging to clearly differentiate product sizes and use cases, helping customers find the right solution for their needs. We also continued to build on the success of our collaborations. This quarter, we partnered with Anthropologie, Target, and Little Words Project, all of which drove outsized reach and new audiences to our social platforms. We remain focused on driving engagement through social and digital channels while continuing to manage marketing spend prudently. We expect to continue rebuilding our upper and middle funnel marketing investment over time behind this storytelling foundation as our results support it. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:14:18Taken together, the progress we are making in sharpening our brand focus across product, marketing, and channels validates that we are on the right path, and we remain committed to this strategic direction as a cornerstone of our transformation. In fact, as a result of these collective efforts, we have recently seen a return to positive growth in Google Search activity for the term Vera Bradley this year, the first time in more than a decade. Pillar two, resetting our go-to-market approach. Turning to our second pillar, resetting our go-to-market approach. The stronger operational discipline we have built continue to support our results this quarter with our gross margin performance and product sell-through remaining the clearest evidence that our reimagined planning, buying, and pricing processes are taking hold. We continue to see this as the collective tissue that turns our creative product and marketing engine into consistent commercial results. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:15:20The consumer research and segmentation work we described last quarter, including our in-home ethnographic studies and work with Gen Z customers on co-creating assortments, continued to inform our product and marketing decisions this quarter, including the back to school and fall seasons. We're building on this foundation as we plan for the balance of the year with a more deliberate and targeted approach to the introduction of new styles and prints. Pillar three, rewriting our digital ecosystem. Turning to our third pillar, under our new head of digital commerce, we continue to invest in the connectivity between our own digital platforms, our marketplace partnerships, and emerging channels like social commerce. We increasingly see digital and social as a driver, not only of our own digital and social commerce business, but of a broader halo and discovery effect that supports our wholesale accounts and drives traffic into our stores. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:16:22We are continuing to invest against that view, including additional talent and expertise, incremental media investment, and technology to support our customer data platform migration, personalization expansion, card enhancements, and additional testing platforms. This work remains an important contributor to our ability to meet customers where they are and to support both our direct and wholesale businesses. Pillar four, Outlet 2.0. Moving to our fourth pillar, the strategic transformation in how we approach our outlet channel. We continue to see the benefits of the elevated visual merchandising standards and curated SKU-reduced assortment we introduced under Outlet 2.0 last year. Notably, our Outlet 2.0 test stores registered improved sales, conversion, and gross margin metrics versus our control group of stores. Given the initial results of Outlet 2.0 and the strength of our current outlet footprint, we intend to be more intentional about capitalizing on the trends we are seeing. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:17:31We are in the early stages of evolving Outlet 2.0 into a new strategy we are calling One Vera. One Vera is about acknowledging that every channel needs to work together as one brand, creating a seamless, more relevant, and elevated Vera Bradley experience, and meeting customers wherever they want to shop. Simply put, it is about creating a singular expression of the brand across channels and recognizing that customers want to find the brand icons wherever they shop. Finally, our fifth pillar, reimagining how we work, has been largely achieved. While we will continue to add select critical capabilities, we have fundamentally redesigned our organization to be future-ready. We have put in place a best-in-class team with the experience and track record to move quickly and win in the marketplace. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:18:27Our primary focus now is building a culture of performance, agility, and accountability with strong cross-functional collaboration and data-driven decision-making to drive the business forward, translating our creative and product work into commercial results. In summary, we are encouraged by our second quarter results and the continued progress we are making across all five pillars of our transformation framework. I want to again thank our team for how they've come together to deliver a second consecutive quarter of growth. The sequential improvement we have achieved over multiple quarters validates that our strategic direction is gaining traction and represents the right path forward to revitalize the Vera Bradley brand, expand market share, and return the business to long-term sustainable growth, profitability, and cash flow generation. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:19:23As we move into the third quarter, we expect the underlying trends we've described today, strengthening direct business, disciplined promotional management, and continued gross margin improvement to remain intact. While there's significant work ahead, we're encouraged by our momentum and the alignment and commitment across the team. As we move through the back half of the year, we'll continue operating with discipline and agility, staying intentional about building the foundation for long-term value creation for all Vera Bradley stakeholders. With that, I will turn the call over to Marty for a detailed financial review, and then we'll be happy to take your questions. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:20:07Thanks, Ian. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. For the sake of clarity, all of the numbers I am discussing today are non-GAAP and exclude the charges outlined in today's press release. A complete detail of items excluded from the non-GAAP numbers, as well as the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP, can be found in that release. We are pleased with our second quarter results, which reflect continued improvement in both our top and bottom line performance. For the second quarter of fiscal 2027, our consolidated revenues totaled $71.6 million compared to $70.9 million in the prior year second quarter. Net income from continuing operations for the second quarter increased $3.8 million-$3.3 million, or $0.11 per diluted share compared to -$0.5 million last year or -$0.02 per diluted share a year ago. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:20:59In terms of segment performance, Vera Bradley Direct segment revenues increased 8% to $65.4 million from $60.5 million in the prior year second quarter. Comparable sales increased 9.2% with all channels comping positive. This marks our fifth consecutive quarter of improvement. Total revenues were also impacted by having 14 fewer stores open in Q2 of this year versus last year, reducing total growth by approximately 100 basis points. Vera Bradley Indirect segment revenues were $6.3 million compared to $10.3 million in the prior year second quarter. As Ian mentioned, the decline was related to strategic shifts and timing related to our marketplace strategy, as well as a reduction in liquidation sales. We were pleased to see continued improvement in our specialty and department store sales where we see meaningful long-term runway for growth. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:21:50Second quarter gross profit totaled $42.8 million or 59.8% of net revenues compared to $35.4 million or 49.9% of net revenues in the prior year. During the quarter, we received $8 million in tariff refunds net of interest, which favorably impacted gross profit by $7.7 million and inventory by $0.3 million. Tariff refunds drove approximately 980 basis points of gross profit rate increase year-to-year. The underlying Q2 gross margin performance excluding tariff refunds improved more than 40 basis points versus last year, driven by product margin improvement and freight efficiencies, partially offset by margin pressure as we strategically cleared through non-go-forward Project Restoration product. SG&A expense totaled $38.7 million or 54% of net revenues compared to $36.3 million or 51.2% of net revenues for the prior year second quarter. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:22:46The increase in SG&A expense was primarily due to increased variable compensation expenses compared to the prior year period, combined with comparing to last year's Q2 stock forfeitures associated with senior leadership changes. Second quarter operating income from continuing operations totaled $4.3 million or 5.9% of net revenues, compared to an operating loss of -$0.6 million or -0.8% of net revenues in the prior year. Now, turning to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter totaled $34.2 million compared to $15.2 million at the end of last year's second quarter. Cash flow for the quarter increased $21.7 million versus an increase of $3.9 million last year, due primarily to the tariff refunds, inventory management, and accounts receivable improvement during the quarter. We had no borrowings on our ABL facility at quarter end. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:23:41Second quarter inventory decreased 28.4% year-over-year to $69.3 million, compared to $96.7 million at the end of second quarter of fiscal 2026. The decrease was driven by improved assortment planning by management and sales performance, as well as the $5.3 million Project Restoration inventory reserve. For fiscal 2027, we are reiterating our prior guidance, including sales in the range of $255 million-$270 million and a year-over-year operating profit improvement of at least 50%. We are pleased with the continuing momentum in our direct business segment while we are making strategic shifts in our marketplace strategy while reducing liquidation sales. We continue to expect full-year gross margin improvement, and we remain focused on diligent cost management across all business functions. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:24:27In closing, we are encouraged by the progress we have made executing our strategic plan and confident the changes we are making set the company up for sustained growth and improved profitability. Now I will open the call to questions. Operator? Operator00:24:41Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star one from your telephone keypad and a confirmation tone indicate your line's in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants who are using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Thank you. Our first question is from the line of Eric Beder with SCC Research. Please proceed with your questions. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:25:12Good morning. Congratulations on another solid quarter. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:25:17Thanks, Eric. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:25:18Thank you. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:25:22Let's talk about the, some of the pieces here. On the inventories, first off, how should we be thinking about how you plan on What are you thinking about inventories as you anniversary some of the sell-throughs and some of the reserves, other pieces? How should we think about inventories kind of at the end of this year? Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:25:44I think that inventory will continue to decline through the end of the year. Then as we get into next year, with the continued growth, I expect that there will be some small increase as we head into next year. But overall, I expect us to be focused on continued turn improvement. I think, right near term, it has been all about cash conversion, but I think the goal at the end of the day is to improve our overall turns into the two to three range, and so that is where the focus will be. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:26:17Okay. Indirect. I know the Indirect is usually historically is a lagging indicator. Many times it just takes a while for the people to see what is going on in the stores and to move forward there. So when you look at it, where are you seeing the encouragement and where is the potential moving from third party to direct in terms of selling the product? Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:26:46Yeah. Good question, Eric. Look, I think the bottom line is that, we are very confident in our product marketing and strategic distribution choices that we are making. We feel they are working, and frankly, we are already seeing this, in our strategic wholesale accounts. I consider that to be our specialty accounts in department stores where we are already seeing this mid-single digit selling growth. And I think the fact that we have now had five consecutive quarters of sequential improvement in our direct business, right, which is also continuing to build momentum, shows us that the fundamentals are right. And we have been prioritizing the direct business. It is 90% of our sales. And it is the best indicator of how customers are responding. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:27:47Now, really the focus is going into how do we reset our Indirect business, and set it up for long-term, sustainable growth, just like we are achieving in our direct business. And look, I think we have got a game plan. We have got the right strategies. Number one, we brought in new wholesale leadership. Under that leadership, we have acted very quickly to rebuild our in-house sales team. Their first priority is going to be on focusing on building back our strategic accounts, the specialty and the department stores, which as you well know, is at a fraction of where it was during the peak. Also, we are focused on a more sustainable management of some of our key accounts, where we have these cut-to-order programs. We are reducing liquidation. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:28:53You know we are looking at our marketplace portfolio, where marketplaces is a digital channel where we increasingly see customer shopping and really optimizing that portfolio in terms of how we manage it. The reality is, some of those may be managed as wholesale accounts, some of those may be managed as direct accounts. We want to find the best way to work with each of those platforms so that we can service our customers. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:29:27Great. When you look at it, you've spent time bringing back some of the features that the kind of the OG Vera customer loves in terms of utility, bringing back some of the prior product. The back to school season was kind of, I think, in some ways a test to see how relevant, how you can expand even more with that younger customer base. I'm curious when you look at the back to school learnings, kind of what you saw that basically where you have it going forward that you want to do that. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:30:01Sorry, I couldn't hear the last part of your question, Eric. Could you repeat it? Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:30:06The last part was about the back-to-campus season and kind of what are the learnings you're going to take from that going forward? Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:30:14Yeah, look, I think overall, the key learnings are, first and foremost. Back to school is a moment and an occasion that Vera Bradley really can own. By leaning into the right kind of product development for that back-to-school season, we have the opportunity to continue to grow market share. I think for the most part, we were very pleased with the preparation that we had done, the planning as well as the execution. If there was maybe one thing I could call out that we recognized was sort of a missed opportunity, we realized actually there were several of the backpack, or there were several prints in which we had the backpacks, but then not the match back lunch bags, and the customers really love to have that match back. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:31:20That was for us, a missed opportunity potentially to drive more growth and sales on the lunch bags, just as one example. Look, we think back to school is something we're going to continue to lean into. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:31:40Okay. Yeah, I will say that you had great inventory this year versus prior clearance for back to school. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:31:46Yes. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:31:46Last question. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:31:48Yes. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:31:49You're at 100% of what you want to be. How should we be thinking about what you're looking to do for the holiday season in terms of product and flows? I know last year there was a lot of clearance, a lot of getting rid of older inventory. This year, I would assume you can be a little bit more kind of aggressive in showcasing the Vera that you want it to be. Thank you. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:32:14Yeah, look, I think the bottom line is, as of this last quarter, we are now 100% in control of the assortment and the buys. I think we are taking the same very thoughtful and planful approach to holiday as we did to back to school. I think our team is feeling very confident about the assortment, about some of the prints, about especially the accessories and small bags, which as you know, has been a big development opportunity for us, which we think for sort of occasions at that time of year and gifting, is great. So we're feeling very much sort of in control now of driving great outcomes. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:33:08Great. Good luck the rest of the year. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:33:11Thank you. Operator00:33:14Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude our question and answer session, and will also conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesDan RussGeneral CounselIan BickleyChairman and CEOMartin LaydingCOO and CFOAnalystsEric BederAnalyst at SCC ResearchPowered by Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Vera Bradley Earnings HeadlinesInsider Move: Vera Bradley Director Makes Bold Stock PurchaseSeptember 29 at 10:10 PM | tipranks.comSmall Cap Consu Lowers Earnings Estimates for Vera BradleySeptember 26, 2026 | americanbankingnews.comTrump To Relaunch USD?President Trump's summit with Xi Jinping drew headlines for tariffs and trade truces, but the real story may be a bid to reset the US dollar. Porter Stansberry says the meeting, attended by figures like Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and Larry Fink, connects to a 13-nation pact designed to cut China out of a massive investment wave.September 30 at 1:00 AM | Porter & Company (Ad)Comparing Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) and Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA)September 21, 2026 | americanbankingnews.comVera Bradley (VRA) Returns to Operating Profit. Can the Recovery Outlast Tariff Refunds?September 20, 2026 | insidermonkey.comVera Bradley (VRA) Returns to Operating Profit. Can the Recovery Outlast Tariff Refunds?September 20, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comSee More Vera Bradley Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Vera Bradley? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Vera Bradley and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Vera BradleyVera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) is a lifestyle and accessories company best known for its colorful, patterned handbags and travel products. Its merchandise includes totes, crossbody bags, backpacks, wallets, accessories, luggage, apparel, home goods and gifts, with collections designed for everyday use, travel and personal style. The company operates primarily through the Vera Bradley brand and Pura Vida, a lifestyle brand offering bracelets, jewelry, accessories and related products. Vera Bradley sells its products through company-operated stores, outlet locations, e-commerce websites and wholesale partners, including specialty retailers and department stores. Its products serve customers in the United States and are also available through international online and retail channels. Vera Bradley was founded in 1982 by Patricia Miller and Barbara Baekgaard and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company acquired a majority interest in Pura Vida in 2019, broadening its product offering and customer reach. Jacqueline Ardrey serves as the company’s president and chief executive officer.View Vera Bradley ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Latest Articles Deutsche Bank Makes a Contrarian Call on Netflix—What Does It Mean for Investors?CarMax Just Gave Investors a Better Reason to Believe in the TurnaroundArhaus Has New Momentum—Could Other Furniture Stocks Be Next?Bernstein Downgrades 3 Cybersecurity Stocks: How Concerned Should Investors Be?Brewing Trouble? 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PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Greetings. Welcome to Vera Bradley's second quarter fiscal 2027 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone today should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 from your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Dan Russ, general counsel. Thank you, Dan. You may begin. Dan RussGeneral Counsel at Vera Bradley00:00:28Good morning, and welcome everyone. We would like to thank you for joining us for today's call. Some of the statements made during our prepared remarks and in response to your questions may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to and within the meaning of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expect. Please refer to today's press release and the company's most recent Form 10-K filed with the SEC for a discussion of known risks and uncertainties. Investors should not assume that the statements made during the call will remain operative at a later time. We undertake no obligation to update any information discussed on today's call. Dan RussGeneral Counsel at Vera Bradley00:01:13I will now turn the call over to Vera Bradley's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ian Bickley. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:01:20Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Vera Bradley's second quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call. This was another strong quarter for us. We continued to build operational excellence across the business while making significant progress on our Project Sunshine transformation journey. This marked our second consecutive quarter of overall growth, with total revenue up 1.1% versus the prior year, an important continuation of the trajectory we discussed last quarter. While the pace of growth was more modest than the nearly 8% we delivered last quarter, the underlying health of the business continued to strengthen across our direct channels, our margin structure, and our balance sheet. That combination of continued top-line progress alongside real improvement in the fundamentals of the business is exactly what we set out to build when we launched this transformation. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:02:20And I want to walk you through why we remain confident in the path forward. Like the first quarter, our second quarter performance was not solely a top-line story. Gross margin expanded more than 40 basis points year-over-year, improvement that excludes refunds recognized in the quarter, which Marty will cover in more detail. That margin expansion was driven by several factors. Continued success in our product assortment work, an intensified marketing strategy anchored on cohesive social first brand storytelling, and enhanced planning and inventory management, and disciplined pricing and promotion governance. Together, these enabled us to further work down non-go-forward Project Restoration inventory while still improving our overall gross margin rate. We continued to manage our balance sheet and liquidity with discipline. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:03:19Inventory ended the quarter down 28% compared to the second quarter last year, and we generated $23 million of operating cash flow in the period, up $28 million from last year. We ended the second quarter in strong- Operator00:03:40Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. We are experiencing technical difficulties and we will resume momentarily. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Our conference will resume momentarily. Thank you. Thank you, Ian. Please continue. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:06:17Yes. Apologies everyone. We had some technical difficulties. Let me continue. We continued to manage our balance sheet and liquidity with discipline. Inventory ended the quarter down 28% compared to the second quarter last year, and we generated $23 million of operating cash flow in the period, up $23 million from $23 million from last year. We ended the second quarter in a strong financial position with $34 million of cash, double our prior year cash position, and no debt. Based on our year-to-date performance, we continue to expect our year-over-year non-GAAP operating loss improvement to be at least 50%, consistent with the guidance we shared last quarter. There is still significant work ahead of us, but I remain encouraged by what our second quarter results show. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:07:09The opportunity for us to grow market share and rebuild towards durable, profitable, cash generative growth remains substantial, and this quarter's progress gives us real conviction as we continue executing against our five transformation pillars. Before I walk through the details of the quarter, I want to thank our entire Vera Bradley team. What we're accomplishing across each of our strategic initiatives reflects their hard work, focus, and belief in this transformation, and in bringing Vera Bradley's cheerful optimism back to life while we build a more disciplined, higher-performing organization and operating model underneath it. Our Direct segment delivered revenue growth of 8% versus the prior year, our fifth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement in this channel, and an acceleration from roughly 4% growth achieved in the first quarter. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:08:08Comparable sales across our Direct channel, combining stores and digital, were up 9.2% for the quarter, our second consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, with growth in both our full price and outlet businesses. Our Direct segment represents more than 90% of our business and is the channel we control most directly. It also continues to be the best indicator of how our customers are responding to the product, marketing, and strategic distribution choices we are making. In our Indirect channel segment, due to intentional shifts in timing related to our marketplace strategy and reduction in liquidation sales, revenue contracted 39% compared to the prior year. The underlying performance in the Indirect channel remains strong, with mid-single digit overall selling growth to our strategic wholesale accounts, including leading specialty and key department store partners. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:09:07We continue to see this part of our wholesale business as the clearest evidence that our product and brand work is translating beyond our own Direct channels. As the back-to-school shopping season took hold in the back half of the quarter, our results accelerated, and we entered the third quarter with good momentum in both our full price and outlet channels. Back to school is a critical selling occasion for Vera Bradley, and our strong preparation, planning, and execution paid off with overall back-to-school business up versus last year. We continue to strategically manage our pricing and promotional cadence this quarter, staying disciplined on the number of promotional events and expanding gross margin, even as we drove continued sell-through of non-go-forward Project Restoration inventory. We've made good progress and are now past the halfway point on working through our legacy inventory. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:10:05Now let me provide an update on our continued progress against the five strategic transformation pillars of Project Sunshine, with a particular focus on where we saw the most meaningful movement this quarter and where we focused as we head into the second half of the year. Pillar one: sharpening our brand focus. As we have discussed on prior calls, sharpening our brand focus is fundamentally about bringing our unique brand positioning back to life through compelling product, authentic storytelling, and strategic distribution choices. Our back to school and holiday collections marked the first quarter with 100% of the assortment reflecting our collective work, an important milestone as we continue re-engaging lapsed customers and attracting new customers across channels. Our focus product strategies continue to resonate. Cotton continued its return to historic levels of importance, and our more intentional IP collaborations contributed meaningfully to the quarter. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:11:10Hello Kitty was a standout in brand, timed well against back to school with a strong assortment and relevant marketing campaign. The best example of the right collaboration, the right product, and the right occasion coming together in a compelling and brand-enhancing manner. The reintroduction of Winnie the Pooh in brand also continued to perform well. In outlet, our Star Wars droid collaboration performed well through June and early July, following earlier quarter success with Disney Princesses. We also continued to see success with Stitch and Honeydukes IP product. The successful return of Vera Originals also continued to reengage our longtime fans. We also saw continued validation of our shift towards introducing reimagined iconic styles and heritage prints. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:12:02This gives us continued confidence that our product strategy, grounded in the same brand attributes that define Vera Bradley Feminine, creative, cheerful, whimsical, joyful, fun, colorful, approachable, high quality, and smart value is the right one, and that it is durable across seasons and occasions rather than dependent on any single collaboration or moment. Under our new wholesale leadership, our key accounts continue to realize the benefit of improved assortment productivity and full price sell-through. We remain encouraged by the growing recognition of our brand momentum among leading retail partners, including existing and prospective wholesale accounts. Given our confidence in the future wholesale growth pipeline and our desire to rebuild this channel thoughtfully and with the right partners, we recently made the decision to reestablish our in-house sales team to accelerate growth while discontinuing our previous arrangement with a third-party sales representative agency. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:13:11On the marketing side, we continued our storytelling momentum from the spring, extending our joyful optimism creative into our back-to-school campaign, which shifted from a school-focused campaign to a lifestyle-driven, highlighting the versatility of our products across everyday moments. We featured enhanced back-to-school backpack comparison guides and messaging to clearly differentiate product sizes and use cases, helping customers find the right solution for their needs. We also continued to build on the success of our collaborations. This quarter, we partnered with Anthropologie, Target, and Little Words Project, all of which drove outsized reach and new audiences to our social platforms. We remain focused on driving engagement through social and digital channels while continuing to manage marketing spend prudently. We expect to continue rebuilding our upper and middle funnel marketing investment over time behind this storytelling foundation as our results support it. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:14:18Taken together, the progress we are making in sharpening our brand focus across product, marketing, and channels validates that we are on the right path, and we remain committed to this strategic direction as a cornerstone of our transformation. In fact, as a result of these collective efforts, we have recently seen a return to positive growth in Google Search activity for the term Vera Bradley this year, the first time in more than a decade. Pillar two, resetting our go-to-market approach. Turning to our second pillar, resetting our go-to-market approach. The stronger operational discipline we have built continue to support our results this quarter with our gross margin performance and product sell-through remaining the clearest evidence that our reimagined planning, buying, and pricing processes are taking hold. We continue to see this as the collective tissue that turns our creative product and marketing engine into consistent commercial results. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:15:20The consumer research and segmentation work we described last quarter, including our in-home ethnographic studies and work with Gen Z customers on co-creating assortments, continued to inform our product and marketing decisions this quarter, including the back to school and fall seasons. We're building on this foundation as we plan for the balance of the year with a more deliberate and targeted approach to the introduction of new styles and prints. Pillar three, rewriting our digital ecosystem. Turning to our third pillar, under our new head of digital commerce, we continue to invest in the connectivity between our own digital platforms, our marketplace partnerships, and emerging channels like social commerce. We increasingly see digital and social as a driver, not only of our own digital and social commerce business, but of a broader halo and discovery effect that supports our wholesale accounts and drives traffic into our stores. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:16:22We are continuing to invest against that view, including additional talent and expertise, incremental media investment, and technology to support our customer data platform migration, personalization expansion, card enhancements, and additional testing platforms. This work remains an important contributor to our ability to meet customers where they are and to support both our direct and wholesale businesses. Pillar four, Outlet 2.0. Moving to our fourth pillar, the strategic transformation in how we approach our outlet channel. We continue to see the benefits of the elevated visual merchandising standards and curated SKU-reduced assortment we introduced under Outlet 2.0 last year. Notably, our Outlet 2.0 test stores registered improved sales, conversion, and gross margin metrics versus our control group of stores. Given the initial results of Outlet 2.0 and the strength of our current outlet footprint, we intend to be more intentional about capitalizing on the trends we are seeing. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:17:31We are in the early stages of evolving Outlet 2.0 into a new strategy we are calling One Vera. One Vera is about acknowledging that every channel needs to work together as one brand, creating a seamless, more relevant, and elevated Vera Bradley experience, and meeting customers wherever they want to shop. Simply put, it is about creating a singular expression of the brand across channels and recognizing that customers want to find the brand icons wherever they shop. Finally, our fifth pillar, reimagining how we work, has been largely achieved. While we will continue to add select critical capabilities, we have fundamentally redesigned our organization to be future-ready. We have put in place a best-in-class team with the experience and track record to move quickly and win in the marketplace. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:18:27Our primary focus now is building a culture of performance, agility, and accountability with strong cross-functional collaboration and data-driven decision-making to drive the business forward, translating our creative and product work into commercial results. In summary, we are encouraged by our second quarter results and the continued progress we are making across all five pillars of our transformation framework. I want to again thank our team for how they've come together to deliver a second consecutive quarter of growth. The sequential improvement we have achieved over multiple quarters validates that our strategic direction is gaining traction and represents the right path forward to revitalize the Vera Bradley brand, expand market share, and return the business to long-term sustainable growth, profitability, and cash flow generation. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:19:23As we move into the third quarter, we expect the underlying trends we've described today, strengthening direct business, disciplined promotional management, and continued gross margin improvement to remain intact. While there's significant work ahead, we're encouraged by our momentum and the alignment and commitment across the team. As we move through the back half of the year, we'll continue operating with discipline and agility, staying intentional about building the foundation for long-term value creation for all Vera Bradley stakeholders. With that, I will turn the call over to Marty for a detailed financial review, and then we'll be happy to take your questions. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:20:07Thanks, Ian. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. For the sake of clarity, all of the numbers I am discussing today are non-GAAP and exclude the charges outlined in today's press release. A complete detail of items excluded from the non-GAAP numbers, as well as the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP, can be found in that release. We are pleased with our second quarter results, which reflect continued improvement in both our top and bottom line performance. For the second quarter of fiscal 2027, our consolidated revenues totaled $71.6 million compared to $70.9 million in the prior year second quarter. Net income from continuing operations for the second quarter increased $3.8 million-$3.3 million, or $0.11 per diluted share compared to -$0.5 million last year or -$0.02 per diluted share a year ago. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:20:59In terms of segment performance, Vera Bradley Direct segment revenues increased 8% to $65.4 million from $60.5 million in the prior year second quarter. Comparable sales increased 9.2% with all channels comping positive. This marks our fifth consecutive quarter of improvement. Total revenues were also impacted by having 14 fewer stores open in Q2 of this year versus last year, reducing total growth by approximately 100 basis points. Vera Bradley Indirect segment revenues were $6.3 million compared to $10.3 million in the prior year second quarter. As Ian mentioned, the decline was related to strategic shifts and timing related to our marketplace strategy, as well as a reduction in liquidation sales. We were pleased to see continued improvement in our specialty and department store sales where we see meaningful long-term runway for growth. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:21:50Second quarter gross profit totaled $42.8 million or 59.8% of net revenues compared to $35.4 million or 49.9% of net revenues in the prior year. During the quarter, we received $8 million in tariff refunds net of interest, which favorably impacted gross profit by $7.7 million and inventory by $0.3 million. Tariff refunds drove approximately 980 basis points of gross profit rate increase year-to-year. The underlying Q2 gross margin performance excluding tariff refunds improved more than 40 basis points versus last year, driven by product margin improvement and freight efficiencies, partially offset by margin pressure as we strategically cleared through non-go-forward Project Restoration product. SG&A expense totaled $38.7 million or 54% of net revenues compared to $36.3 million or 51.2% of net revenues for the prior year second quarter. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:22:46The increase in SG&A expense was primarily due to increased variable compensation expenses compared to the prior year period, combined with comparing to last year's Q2 stock forfeitures associated with senior leadership changes. Second quarter operating income from continuing operations totaled $4.3 million or 5.9% of net revenues, compared to an operating loss of -$0.6 million or -0.8% of net revenues in the prior year. Now, turning to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter totaled $34.2 million compared to $15.2 million at the end of last year's second quarter. Cash flow for the quarter increased $21.7 million versus an increase of $3.9 million last year, due primarily to the tariff refunds, inventory management, and accounts receivable improvement during the quarter. We had no borrowings on our ABL facility at quarter end. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:23:41Second quarter inventory decreased 28.4% year-over-year to $69.3 million, compared to $96.7 million at the end of second quarter of fiscal 2026. The decrease was driven by improved assortment planning by management and sales performance, as well as the $5.3 million Project Restoration inventory reserve. For fiscal 2027, we are reiterating our prior guidance, including sales in the range of $255 million-$270 million and a year-over-year operating profit improvement of at least 50%. We are pleased with the continuing momentum in our direct business segment while we are making strategic shifts in our marketplace strategy while reducing liquidation sales. We continue to expect full-year gross margin improvement, and we remain focused on diligent cost management across all business functions. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:24:27In closing, we are encouraged by the progress we have made executing our strategic plan and confident the changes we are making set the company up for sustained growth and improved profitability. Now I will open the call to questions. Operator? Operator00:24:41Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star one from your telephone keypad and a confirmation tone indicate your line's in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants who are using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Thank you. Our first question is from the line of Eric Beder with SCC Research. Please proceed with your questions. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:25:12Good morning. Congratulations on another solid quarter. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:25:17Thanks, Eric. Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:25:18Thank you. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:25:22Let's talk about the, some of the pieces here. On the inventories, first off, how should we be thinking about how you plan on What are you thinking about inventories as you anniversary some of the sell-throughs and some of the reserves, other pieces? How should we think about inventories kind of at the end of this year? Martin LaydingCOO and CFO at Vera Bradley00:25:44I think that inventory will continue to decline through the end of the year. Then as we get into next year, with the continued growth, I expect that there will be some small increase as we head into next year. But overall, I expect us to be focused on continued turn improvement. I think, right near term, it has been all about cash conversion, but I think the goal at the end of the day is to improve our overall turns into the two to three range, and so that is where the focus will be. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:26:17Okay. Indirect. I know the Indirect is usually historically is a lagging indicator. Many times it just takes a while for the people to see what is going on in the stores and to move forward there. So when you look at it, where are you seeing the encouragement and where is the potential moving from third party to direct in terms of selling the product? Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:26:46Yeah. Good question, Eric. Look, I think the bottom line is that, we are very confident in our product marketing and strategic distribution choices that we are making. We feel they are working, and frankly, we are already seeing this, in our strategic wholesale accounts. I consider that to be our specialty accounts in department stores where we are already seeing this mid-single digit selling growth. And I think the fact that we have now had five consecutive quarters of sequential improvement in our direct business, right, which is also continuing to build momentum, shows us that the fundamentals are right. And we have been prioritizing the direct business. It is 90% of our sales. And it is the best indicator of how customers are responding. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:27:47Now, really the focus is going into how do we reset our Indirect business, and set it up for long-term, sustainable growth, just like we are achieving in our direct business. And look, I think we have got a game plan. We have got the right strategies. Number one, we brought in new wholesale leadership. Under that leadership, we have acted very quickly to rebuild our in-house sales team. Their first priority is going to be on focusing on building back our strategic accounts, the specialty and the department stores, which as you well know, is at a fraction of where it was during the peak. Also, we are focused on a more sustainable management of some of our key accounts, where we have these cut-to-order programs. We are reducing liquidation. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:28:53You know we are looking at our marketplace portfolio, where marketplaces is a digital channel where we increasingly see customer shopping and really optimizing that portfolio in terms of how we manage it. The reality is, some of those may be managed as wholesale accounts, some of those may be managed as direct accounts. We want to find the best way to work with each of those platforms so that we can service our customers. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:29:27Great. When you look at it, you've spent time bringing back some of the features that the kind of the OG Vera customer loves in terms of utility, bringing back some of the prior product. The back to school season was kind of, I think, in some ways a test to see how relevant, how you can expand even more with that younger customer base. I'm curious when you look at the back to school learnings, kind of what you saw that basically where you have it going forward that you want to do that. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:30:01Sorry, I couldn't hear the last part of your question, Eric. Could you repeat it? Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:30:06The last part was about the back-to-campus season and kind of what are the learnings you're going to take from that going forward? Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:30:14Yeah, look, I think overall, the key learnings are, first and foremost. Back to school is a moment and an occasion that Vera Bradley really can own. By leaning into the right kind of product development for that back-to-school season, we have the opportunity to continue to grow market share. I think for the most part, we were very pleased with the preparation that we had done, the planning as well as the execution. If there was maybe one thing I could call out that we recognized was sort of a missed opportunity, we realized actually there were several of the backpack, or there were several prints in which we had the backpacks, but then not the match back lunch bags, and the customers really love to have that match back. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:31:20That was for us, a missed opportunity potentially to drive more growth and sales on the lunch bags, just as one example. Look, we think back to school is something we're going to continue to lean into. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:31:40Okay. Yeah, I will say that you had great inventory this year versus prior clearance for back to school. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:31:46Yes. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:31:46Last question. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:31:48Yes. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:31:49You're at 100% of what you want to be. How should we be thinking about what you're looking to do for the holiday season in terms of product and flows? I know last year there was a lot of clearance, a lot of getting rid of older inventory. This year, I would assume you can be a little bit more kind of aggressive in showcasing the Vera that you want it to be. Thank you. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:32:14Yeah, look, I think the bottom line is, as of this last quarter, we are now 100% in control of the assortment and the buys. I think we are taking the same very thoughtful and planful approach to holiday as we did to back to school. I think our team is feeling very confident about the assortment, about some of the prints, about especially the accessories and small bags, which as you know, has been a big development opportunity for us, which we think for sort of occasions at that time of year and gifting, is great. So we're feeling very much sort of in control now of driving great outcomes. Eric BederAnalyst at SCC Research00:33:08Great. Good luck the rest of the year. Ian BickleyChairman and CEO at Vera Bradley00:33:11Thank you. Operator00:33:14Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude our question and answer session, and will also conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesDan RussGeneral CounselIan BickleyChairman and CEOMartin LaydingCOO and CFOAnalystsEric BederAnalyst at SCC ResearchPowered by