Dive Brief:

• Struggling teen-apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch warned last week that its sales are plummeting, sending its share price down some 17%. 

• The retailer’s Q3 sales missed expectations, falling to $911.4 million from $1.03 billion.

• The company noted that shrinking mall traffic, notably in Europe, competition from fast fashion, and less overall interest from teens in clothing are contributing to its sales dive.

Dive Insight:

Abercrombie & Fitch says it has been changing up its mix of merchandise and its dark nightclub and heavily perfumed approach in order to reverse its falling fortunes. But that seems to be taking a while. The result is a situation where the retailer seems to have failed to find any new focus, either in its merchandising or its store design, and some locations have seen very little change. It seems that a retailer that consistently presented itself as an arbiter of teen cool is now being overlooked by teenagers.