Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Harmit Singh: Yes. So what’s assumed in promotions, if you recall, Jim, last year quarter four was fairly promotional. Quarter three, we began to see some promotion, but quarter four was fairly promotional. So our view is, quarter three is probably promotional, probably slightly less promotional than quarter two because inventories are getting better, trade inventories are getting better, our inventory is getting better. And quarter four, it’s kind of slightly better than a year ago, and we end H2 probably slightly better than last year H2. That’s what we’re thinking on promotion at this time. Plus, by taking some pricing actions, in the absence of pricing actions, there were probably deeper promotion on the same fits because people wanted to set by taking pricing actions that will help offset the deeper promotions to an extent.

So that’s kind of kind of factored in. To your question about our own DTC business and our DTC business in the U.S. is outlets, as well as our mainline stores. Our mainline, we’re seeing the consumer and largely consumers earning $100,000 plus less price sensitive. I mean, we do promote on days where it’s important, like Father’s Day, for example, et cetera, et cetera. Black Friday will happen, but it’s very targeted. And the same cadence we have for our outlets, too. And some of the pricing, some of the Tier 3 products that Chip talked about are also sold in our outlets. So that should adjust for the outlook. But overall, we are seeing less promotions in our own stores than probably in wholesale.

Chip Bergh: I guess I would just add one other thing, Jim, is the other thing that is clearly working in our DTC channel is newness and we’re right now at end of season. So if you go look online or shop around, you’re going to see a lot of sales us and everybody else because everybody is trying to get ready for the next season. That product will begin hitting the floors later this month, setting us up for back-to-school. And we’re really excited because we’re excited about the next season and the product that we’ve got coming in and some of the collaborations and — but newness definitely works. And we have no product, no problem selling through product at full price when new products [indiscernible] when it’s resonating.

Jim Duffy: Thank you.

Chip Bergh: Thanks, Jim.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group. Your question please, Dana.

Dana Telsey: Hi. Good afternoon. As you think about the mass channel, which I think was down 13% in the prior quarter, how did the mass wholesale channel differ from the other wholesale businesses? And then with marketing, given the birthday of the 501, how is marketing being planned in the back half compared to last year? And then CapEx, is that still expected to be the same number, around $280 million? Or what are you looking for there? Thank you.

Harmit Singh: So I’ll answer the CapEx question, and I’ll give the value channel to Chip. But on the CapEx question, I think we had indicated $290-odd million. Our expectation for CapEx is between $290 million and $300 million, something like that. So in and around what we talked about and is largely oriented towards the new doors, Dana, that I talked about and investments to — on technology really to accelerate our e-commerce business. Those are the two broad areas. And then we’ve had some infrastructure CapEx. We opened a digital DTC, we just upgraded our ERP and we’re building the DC, which will be an omnichannel DC in Europe. So that’s why we’re looking at some infrastructure investments really to propel and service the growth in our growth algorithm.