Destination XL holiday sales stunted by brick-and-mortar slow-down

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jan 13, 2020

Canton, Massachusetts-based big and tall menswear retailer Destination XL Group, Inc. reported slight increases in sales over the holiday period on Monday, as growth in its wholesale business was undermined by declining store traffic.

 
Destination XL, which operates under the DXL and Casual Male XL banners, announced total sales of $103.1 million for the nine-week period ended January 4, 2020, a 0.4% increase compared to the $102.7 million reported by the company in the prior-year. Full retail segment comparable sales also rose 0.4%.
 
Sales in the retailer’s wholesale business increased from $0.9 million to $3.4 million but were let down by a low single-digit decrease in comparable sales in the company’s retail stores.

Destination XL’s direct business accounted for 27.4% of its retail segment sales over the holiday period, up from 24.8% in the same period in the previous year.
 
“Although our comparable sales performance was not to the level we expected, we delivered a net positive comparable sales result for the holiday season,” commented Destination XL president and CEO Harvey Kanter, in a release. “Management’s efforts and investment drove greater inflection over our third quarter trends in the direct business and meaningful growth in wholesale.”
 
In light of its holiday sales results and in line with its expectations for the remainder of the fourth quarter, Destination XL now predicts that full-year comparable sales in its omni-channel retail business will remain flat.
 
The company plans to report its complete Q4 and full-year fiscal 2019 financial results on March 19, 2020, when the company will also conduct its quarterly conference call.