This year Abercrombie & Fitch plans to close 40 stores. Last year 29 stores were closed. Over the past eight years, Abercrombie & Fitch has actually closed 475 locations.
The brand has been in turnaround mode for the past few years, working tirelessly to reconfigure its retail and product strategies to compete with fast-fashion brands and capture the limited attention spans of young consumers. A big part of that phase has been getting its whole retail situation (including Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister brands) into better shape through efforts like improving omnichannel capabilities and optimizing the store network.
While brick-and-mortar may be suffering, the retailer hit a milestone for its online business, reaching a billion dollars in annual digital sales across its brands with the majority coming from mobile. Thanks largely to that e-commerce strength, overall comparable sales were up three per cent for both the fourth quarter and the year, marking the company’s sixth consecutive quarter and second consecutive full year of positive comparable sales. By brand, Hollister did a bit better, with six per cent growth in comparable sales, whereas A&F saw a two per cent decline.
The company’s plans for this year include store remodels and further expansion into Europe. It expects comparable sales to be up in the low-single digits for fiscal 2019.












