Dive Brief:

• Urban Outfitters, Inc., which includes the Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie brands, Monday reported Q2 2016 sales, revenue, and earnings that largely missed expectations. 

• Sales have slowed and the company said that in Q3 they’d likely be even slower. The results were blamed on the strong dollar and “fashion errors” especially at the company’s largest-by-sales brand, Anthropologie.

• The company’s Free People brand continues to be a great support, with Free People Wholesale delivering another strong quarter, with sales up 21% to $72 million. That included double-digit sales growth at department stores, partially driven by categories “Intimately Free” lingerie and Free People Shoes.

Dive Insight:

Urban Outfitters had a strange Monday, with some confusion about their Q2 results. Bottom line — the company has a lot in common with many of its compatriots. That is, increased fulfillment costs, successes in lingerie and athleisure, and some blame for the strong dollar.

The company is finding success in its department store concessions and plans to expand that — including overseas.

Mobile sales now make up 55% of UO’s e-commerce visits, and almost 30% of sales, so the company plans to improve its mobile platforms, especially for Free People. And the company is looking to expand its omnichannel initiatives, from beacons to in-store pickup.

“We are trying to look at more personalize shop experience using technology,” COO Calvin Hollinger said in a call with investors. “And the other thing we are very excited for is in Q4, we expect to roll out borderline and pickup in the store, which then allow us to also do same-day delivery from stores. … So there are number of omni-channel initiatives underway to be delivered in Q4.”