Gabrielle Saulsbery//March 6, 2020//
Burlington Stores Inc. will shut down its e-commerce site to focus on its physical retail business, Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Sullivan told analysts on Thursday’s quarterly earnings call.
“In our business, which is a moderate off-price business, the nature of the treasure hunt and the average price point that we operate at means that brick-and-mortar stores have a significant competitive and economic advantage over e-commerce,” O’Sullivan said on the call.
The site represented 0.5 percent of the retailer’s sales, he said.
“Given that it was only not 0.5 percent of sales the impact of the shutdown of e-commerce on our overall sales and earnings is not material, and as for the cross-over traffic between e-commerce and stores, we think we have other more cost-effective ways to engage with customers digitally and thereby driving traffic to our stores,” he said.
Burlington plans to open a net 54 stores in 2020 with an average size of 39,700 feet. This is the first time its average new store will be less than 40,000 square feet, according to Chief Financial Officer John Crimmins.