Michaels Sees 296 Pct eCommerce Growth Amid Omnichannel Rollout

The debut of new omnichannel features such as same-day delivery and curbside pickup, among other factors, helped fuel 296 percent eCommerce growth for The Michaels Companies, Inc. in Q1. The retailer, however, reported a 27.6 percent drop in comparable store sales for the 13 weeks concluding May 2, 2020 compared to a 2.9 percent fall for the 13 weeks concluding May 4, 2019, according to an an announcement.

“This quarter, we significantly accelerated Michaels’ transformation into an omnichannel retailer by introducing a robust set of customer facing digital and fulfillment capabilities,” Michaels Chief Executive Officer Ashley Buchanan said in the announcement. “Moving through the rest of the year, we will continue to introduce additional capabilities that enable us to serve customers wherever and however they want to shop.”

Michaels noted that under 500 retail locations were open as of May 2 because of coronavirus-related limitations. But the retailer said that a number of shuttered locations kept bringing in sales via ship from store and curbside pickup programs. It said that the number of open and fully operational stores was roughly 1,000 of its 1,273 locations as of June 4.

The retailer said it took many steps to adapt to the coronavirus impact on operations, including decreasing costs by delaying or taking away discretionary spending “not directly related to health and safety and by prioritizing the initiatives necessary to operate effectively in the current environment.”

Wellness and safety procedures were also put into place throughout locations such as restricting store hours or shuttering locations, applying social distancing procedures and bolstering store cleaning. Michaels also implemented plexiglass shields at checkout, among other actions.

Michaels reported net sales of $799.9 million and an operating loss of $60.7 million for the 13 weeks ending May 2, 2020.

In December, Michaels announced that Buchanan would be taking over as chief executive of the company from Mark Cosby. Shares increased 15 percent on the news, according to a report at the time.