Williams-Sonoma’s Earnings Miss

Williams-Sonoma is the latest in a long chain this late winter to bring a disappointing quarterly earnings report to their investors, though the company found a glimmer of hope in the digital department.

Much of the disappointment in the Q4 reports, according to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, was generated by the metric that combines same-store sales and eCommerce sales within the Pottery Barn brand.

Analysts were predicting quarterly per-share earnings of $1.58 on $1.62 billion in revenue. That is not quite what they got. Revenue rose 2.9 percent to $1.59 billion. All in, the firm reported a $141.1 million profit and per-share earnings of $1.55, compared with profit of $147 million, or $1.57 per share, in the year-earlier period.

Even though comparable-brand revenue — the metric used for tracking same-store sales and online sales — was up on the whole (slightly, .8 percent), it was down 2 percent at Pottery Barn. That is a problem, since Pottery Barn generates the most cash of the William and Sonoma’s brand, which also included West Elm and PBteen.

In a call with reporters late Wednesday, Williams-Sonoma talked up their planned intention to streamline their current product offerings, following the footsteps of many physical retailers who are hoping that better editing and curation might help boost conversion. Williams-Sonoma will also be opening a new distribution center in the Southeast with an eye toward upping delivery times and lowering shipping costs.

The good news for Williams-Sonoma, such as there is a lot to go around, is that its competitors in the sector like Restoration Hardware and Crate & Barrel are suffering from similar headwinds and have recently reported similar losses.