Dive Brief:
- Ahead of its full fourth-quarter release, Nordstrom reported that net sales rose 4.9% year over year during the nine-week holiday period ending on Jan. 4, 2025, according to a Friday press release. The company’s comparable sales saw a 5.8% bump during the same period.
- The namesake banner’s net sales increased 3.7% and comp sales increased 6.5%, while off-pricer Nordstrom Rack’s net sales increased 7.4% and comparable sales increased 4.3%.
- In light of its holiday performance, the company updated its 2024 guidance to reflect that revenue is expected to grow between 1.5% and 2.5% compared to 2023. Comparable sales are also expected to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% year over year, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Like its holiday season performance, Nordstrom Rack drove greater net sales growth than the company’s namesake banner in its first three quarters of 2024. The department store has been building out its off-price fleet, opening 11 new locations in the first eight months of last year, with plans at the time to open an additional 12 stores ahead of the holidays.
In Q3, the company reported a 4.6% increase in net sales year over year to $3.3 billion, with total comps up 4%. Though Nordstrom executives were worried about the company's holiday performance going into the last part of the year, those fears may have subsided.
“As a result of our efforts to remain competitive in the promotional environment and the strength of our offering, our holiday sales in November and December exceeded the expectations we shared during our most recent earnings call,” Erik Nordstrom, chief executive officer of Nordstrom, said in a statement. “For the full year, we’re raising our topline outlook and reaffirming our profitability guidance.”
The company will release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results on March 4.
At the end of last year, the Nordstrom family succeeded in its effort to take the company private in a $6.25 billion deal. In partnership with the Mexican retail company El Puerto de Liverpool, Erik, Pete and Jamie Nordstrom, along with other members of the founding family, bought the remaining common shares. The deal was financed through a combination of funds from Liverpool, the Nordstrom family, the company’s cash on hand and up to $450 million in borrowings under a new $1.2 billion ABL bank financing.
