Zumiez posted a loss of $2.1 million for the first quarter of 2016, down 8 cents per share, while net sales for the quarter declined 2.6 percent year-over-year to $173.0 million.
The teen footwear and apparel retailer also reported dismal sales data for the month of May, with comparable store sales for the month falling 7.6 percent – a performance worse than the 2.2% drop recorded last May. Zumiez has now recorded 14 consecutive months of negative comps.
As the landscape of the mall continues to change, Zumiez has struggled to keep pace with aggressive fast fashion retailers which have lured teens, while competition from sporting goods stores has increasingly cut into footwear sales.
Zumiez CEO Rick Brooks, however, laid blame on weak consumer demand for the company’s products as the reason for poor financial performance.
“The quarter was more challenging than expected. We did experience pockets of strength within our merchandise assortments, however it wasn’t enough to offset the general weakness in consumer demand for our major categories,” he said in a statement.
Despite the company’s financial situation, Zumiez remained undeterred in its 2016 plans, which include the opening of 29 new stores, of which around seven are planned for Europe and another six in Canada.
For the rest of 2016, Zumiez says it expects to post a loss of 9–13 cents per share in the second quarter of the year, while comps are expected to decline 6-8 percent over the same period.