Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Joanne Crevoiserat: Yes. Well, I will take the first part of the question, and it’s an interesting question. The cadence of the quarter, I would say, if we’re talking about North America specifically, and we could talk about globally, but North America specifically, the cadence of the quarter was more normalized. I think a year ago, we all saw a pull forward in demand as many, and we were supply constrained. And as I just mentioned, this year, this holiday, we saw a more normalized cadence where customers were shopping during the peak periods. Importantly, we were welcoming so many more customers back into our stores, which was fabulous. And obviously, we are well-positioned with a great team to take advantage of those changes and trends.

Obviously, the conditions in China played out much differently than we expected and impacted the cadence of the business on a more global scale with softness in December when they were reopening and the changes in the COVID containment policy and COVID infections impacted that market. So a lot of different changes, some we anticipated, some we didn’t. But our teams really moved with agility to deliver for our customers and manage the business in a really healthy way. Even in the face of the shifts, we were delivering higher AUR in our handbag category, we saw the resilience continue to see the durability of that category with our consumers and we delivered higher gross margin and exceeded our expectations for profitability as well. Scott?

Scott Rowe: Yes. Just taking it from there, Matt, the second quarter being really was what we would call operationally related. So it was the combination of price increases versus a discount. So as we said, discounts may be a little elevated versus the strange year last year when we were under unit constraints and supply issues. This is, as Todd and Joanne said, more normalized, and we are operating with discipline, and we said we would even — we are not going to chase the last revenue dollar just to drive top line. We are really focused on the long-term health of the business, and Todd said, focus on a motion versus just price. And you see that reflected in the second quarter. And as we turn to the full year, I think we outlined it in the prepared remarks, but freight has gotten a bit better for us, FX as well and some of the operational impacts.

So we took our gross margin guidance up slightly in the second half. And as you see that, it’s about 130 basis points benefit now for the full year. And remember, that’s for freight. And remember, in the first quarter, that freight was negative. So the 130 reflects the negative in the first half and some of the benefits we are seeing in the second half. So that benefit continues to grow as we move through the second half and what should be a tailwind as we go into next year.

Operator: . We will move next to Michael Binetti of Credit Suisse.

Michael Binetti: Hey, guys. Congrats on a great quarter. I want to just ask you — when you think about — what do you think are the most important things for your teams to focus on to get North America back to positive growth here? I’m sure that’s the discussion you’re having. On AUR, you mentioned smaller handbags. You’ve heard a little bit about that. I wonder if that trend continues, that become a pressure on continuing to report the nice positive AURs we had. But more importantly, last quarter you lowered revenues a bit and you held the EBIT margin nicely. Now you’re raising, but there’s a lot of moving parts. As you look at the second half plan, Scott, I guess, two things. Where do you see opportunities for upside? And if you’re able to tap those numbers, do you think you need to bring some of those costs back that you may have removed earlier to stabilize EBIT for us? Or maybe just help us think about flow-through.