According to internal Nordstrom data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, with the declines deepening in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, sales of Ivanka Trump’s fashion line tumbled 32% at Nordstrom Inc. last fiscal year.
The Nordstrom data show that compared with a year ago, in the second, third and fourth weeks of October, Ivanka Trump footwear and apparel sales fell more than 70% amid calls to boycott the brand. Averaging 26% year-over-year in January, the declines have moderated somewhat since then. There were no comments from Nordstrom, which didn’t provide the data.
President Donald Trump and a senior White House counselor were prompted to rush to Ms. Trump’s defense as the retailer’s recent decision to stop carrying the label has created a firestorm on social media.
“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
The brand’s performance and not politics, was the basis of the decision to pull out the brand from the website, Nordstrom has said. “Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now,” a Nordstrom spokeswoman said.
There were also no comments from a spokeswoman for Ivanka Trump’s brand. The brand’s overall sales increased 21% in 2016, the spokeswoman had previously said, without providing more details. Including Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor, the brand was available at other department stores in addition to Nordstrom.
Companies like Nordstrom and Under Armour are getting caught in the crosshairs as dueling social-media movements are urging people to boycott and buy brands based on their affiliation with President Donald Trump.
According to the report published in The Wall Street Journal, down from $20.9 million in the previous year, Ivanka Trump footwear and apparel sales totaled $14.3 million in the fiscal year ended in January at Nordstrom.
Even as the chain’s overall sales rose in a difficult retail market, the brand’s decline at Nordstrom happened. Total sales gained 3% to $10.2 billion in the nine month period and increased 7.2% to $3.5 billion in the quarter ended Oct. 29.
In a televised interview from the White House, Americans were urged to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” by Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers on Thursday. Ethics rules, which ban executive branch employees from promoting products, could have been violated by her comments.
Ms. Conway’s remarks “raised extremely serious concerns” over the use of a government position to endorse a commercial product, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said on Thursday. “Kellyanne has been counseled on that subject, and that’s it”, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
Grab Your Wallet is an anti-Trump group that urges consumers to boycott companies that sell Trump-related products and Nordstrom was among dozens of retailers listed by the group.
When her father was sworn in as the 45th president last month, Ms. Trump took a leave of absence from her family’s company, The Trump Organization, and her own brand. While she retains her ownership interest, she is no longer involved in the management or operations of either company.
(Source:www.wsj.com)
The Nordstrom data show that compared with a year ago, in the second, third and fourth weeks of October, Ivanka Trump footwear and apparel sales fell more than 70% amid calls to boycott the brand. Averaging 26% year-over-year in January, the declines have moderated somewhat since then. There were no comments from Nordstrom, which didn’t provide the data.
President Donald Trump and a senior White House counselor were prompted to rush to Ms. Trump’s defense as the retailer’s recent decision to stop carrying the label has created a firestorm on social media.
“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
The brand’s performance and not politics, was the basis of the decision to pull out the brand from the website, Nordstrom has said. “Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now,” a Nordstrom spokeswoman said.
There were also no comments from a spokeswoman for Ivanka Trump’s brand. The brand’s overall sales increased 21% in 2016, the spokeswoman had previously said, without providing more details. Including Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor, the brand was available at other department stores in addition to Nordstrom.
Companies like Nordstrom and Under Armour are getting caught in the crosshairs as dueling social-media movements are urging people to boycott and buy brands based on their affiliation with President Donald Trump.
According to the report published in The Wall Street Journal, down from $20.9 million in the previous year, Ivanka Trump footwear and apparel sales totaled $14.3 million in the fiscal year ended in January at Nordstrom.
Even as the chain’s overall sales rose in a difficult retail market, the brand’s decline at Nordstrom happened. Total sales gained 3% to $10.2 billion in the nine month period and increased 7.2% to $3.5 billion in the quarter ended Oct. 29.
In a televised interview from the White House, Americans were urged to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” by Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers on Thursday. Ethics rules, which ban executive branch employees from promoting products, could have been violated by her comments.
Ms. Conway’s remarks “raised extremely serious concerns” over the use of a government position to endorse a commercial product, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said on Thursday. “Kellyanne has been counseled on that subject, and that’s it”, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
Grab Your Wallet is an anti-Trump group that urges consumers to boycott companies that sell Trump-related products and Nordstrom was among dozens of retailers listed by the group.
When her father was sworn in as the 45th president last month, Ms. Trump took a leave of absence from her family’s company, The Trump Organization, and her own brand. While she retains her ownership interest, she is no longer involved in the management or operations of either company.
(Source:www.wsj.com)
