Urban Outfitters declined in early trading after saying Glen Senk resigned as chief executive officer and will be succeeded by co-founder Richard Hayne as the retailer works to turn around a yearlong decline in profit. Senk, 55, resigned Jan. 9 and plans to pursue another opportunity, Urban Outfitters said in a statement.
Glen Senk
Melissa Campanelli is Editor-in-Chief of Total Retail. She is an industry veteran, having covered all aspects of retail, tech, digital, e-commerce, and marketing over the past 20 years. Melissa is also the co-founder of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle.
Urban Outfitters is moving aggressively to deploy the mobile POS technology it has been testing. "Mobile POS is now in 107 stores, with plans to be in all stores by the beginning of the holiday," said CEO Glen Senk during a recent conference call. Coming during the same week that home improvement retailer Lowe's announced its planned deployment of 42,000 mobile devices, Urban Outfitters' decision to expand its use of mobile POS is another indication of mobility's momentum in the retail industry. Lowe's devices do not currently include point-of-sale functionality, although its executives indicated that they may add functionalities
Urban Outfitters, which has been piloting mobile point-of-sale devices in selected stores since late 2010, will distribute the technology across three of its brands this year, according to CEO Glen Senk. The chain's brick-and-mortar locations include 179 Urban Outfitters and 156 Anthropologie stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe, as well as 47 Free People stores.
PHILADELPHIA — Urban Outfitters announced net income of $39 million, or earnings per diluted share of 23 cents for the first quarter ended April 30, compared with net income of $53 million, or earnings per diluted share of 31 cents. Total company net sales rose by 9% over the same quarter last year to $524 million. Comparable retail segment net sales, which includes direct-to-consumer channels, decreased 1% for the quarter while comparable store net sales decreased 5% for the quarter. "I am confident that we are on the right course to bring our business back to its high standards,"
Urban Outfitters said that Stephen Murray has resigned as global president. The company said Murray plans to move to London and "pursue an opportunity with a wholesale business having an international focus." CEO Glen Senk will take on Murray's duties until a replacement is found.
One subject kept coming up repeatedly at session after session and on the trade show floor: quick response (QR) codes, those relatively boring 2-D codes that are suddenly very sexy and popular in the retail space.
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