Tiffany & Co has reported a decline in worldwide comparable store sales of two per cent for the holiday period ending 31 December, with sales growing only US$5 million to US$966 million against last year’s figures.
Releasing its holiday trading figures earlier this week, the global high-end jewellery retailer said that its Asia-Pacific operations performed well, with total sales growth of two per cent to US$200 million. Japanese sales did even better, increasing 16 per cent to US$143 million.
However, growth in Asia was offset by poor performances in traditional western markets. American and European sales declined four per cent and 10 per cent respectively, bringing down worldwide net sales growth to one per cent.
In response, Tiffany & Co has said that it expects worldwide net sales to decline by a low single-digit percentage from the prior year.
“These overall holiday period sales results were somewhat lower than we had anticipated, but we continue to benefit from a favorable gross margin and prudent expense management,” said Tiffany & Co CEO, Frederic Cumenal.
“Although we do not anticipate any significant improvement in 2017 to the macroeconomic challenges that we faced this year, we continue to focus on our initiatives to enhance our stores and our customers’ experience, and to add newness to our product assortment, while maintaining effective marketing communications and a well-developed supply chain.”
Creative shake up
Just 24 hours after releasing its holiday results, Tiffany & Co. has announced that Reed Krakoff will join the company in the newly created position of Chief Artistic Officer (CAO), effective 1 February.
Krakoff will be responsible for designing the brand’s jewellery and luxury accessories, as well as leading the over-arching artistic and design vision with respect to stores, e-commerce, marketing and advertising.
“Reed’s extraordinary talent and deep understanding of iconic American design, and Tiffany’s defining role in its legacy, make him poised for great success in this new position,” said Cumenal.
Krakoff has previously served as a creative collaborator for Tiffany, helping to re-launch a luxury accessories collection for the company in 2016 that they expect to debut for the 2017 holidays.
He’s a three-time CFDA award winner and has served in senior creative roles at Coach and Ralph Lauren.
“The exceptional opportunity to further Tiffany’s rich creative legacy of design and craftsmanship, and join the incredible talent within Tiffany, is truly inspiring,” said Krakoff.
It was also announced that Francesca Amfitheatrof, who has served as design director at the company for three-and-a-half years, will leave the company to pursue other opportunities.
Tiffany & Co Operates 314 stores worldwide, including 86 in Asia-Pacific and three in New Zealand.
