Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Michael Baughn: I mean I think the easiest way to think about it is in the back half of our guidance, the biggest change, again, is to the promotional markdowns that we’re incorporating to really build inventory where it needs to be.

Operator: And our last question today comes from Paul Lejuez with Citi.

Paul Lejuez: Can you maybe give more detail on where within the assortment of that non-launch product? Did you need to be promotional more so than you’d expect? And can you talk about your ability to get vendor allowances from your key partners? And then just second, curious what happens when you close stores. I think you closed over 100 thus far. And curious what kind of sales transfer you see the nearby stores or online.

Franklin Bracken: Yes. So to the first question — actually, I’ll start at the back end. So the majority of the store closures in 2Q really related to our Sidestep wind down. And so that was highly concentrated into the German marketplace. And so Foot Locker would have benefited the most from that. And we also were very intentional about a number of store conversions, which we actually rebranded to Foot Locker and then moved some of the better inventory over. So that’s how we sort of mitigated the sales hit to the Sidestep wind down specifically in 2Q. As it relates to markdowns and where we’re seeing some of the softness, certainly, lifestyle running as a sort of category has been the softest sort of spot in the footwear category.

And that’s the trend that’s continued out of the first quarter and into the second quarter and something that we’re going to continue to work through as we think about inventory management into the fall season. And so I’d say a large part of the markdown allowance has been geared towards liquidating some of those franchises. We continue to work with our brand partners on vendor allowance, on RTVs and also reflowing our order book in the back half. So I think there’s been good partnership and recognition that we all want to end the year as cleanly as possible and sort of reset the inventory, particularly in North America for 2024.

Mary Dillon: Okay. So let me wrap this up. I just want to thank everybody for joining us today. And I want to reemphasize that while this reset year has been tougher than we expected, I am really excited about the traction we’re seeing with our Lace Up plan. And importantly, our entire team is energized and committed to the transformation that’s taking place in the business and aligned with our strategies. I also just want to close by thanking our over 45,000 employees that they’re working hard to help us implement the strategy and the plan and get the stores on the website and DCs continue to be ready through our back-to-school in the busy holiday season, like only our stripers can. So we look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter. Thank you, and goodbye.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference. We thank you for participating. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

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