New York

Nordstrom Inc. has sidestepped the US department store carnage, with the retailer making strides in attracting shoppers for both full-priced and discounted merchandise.

The Seattle-based chain reported same-store sales that rose 4 per cent in the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations. Consumers were drawn to both of the company’s main store formats — full-price and off-price — while members of their loyalty programme made up a larger percentage of sales.

The better-than-expected results mark a welcome change for a domestic department store sector that’s faced a tough week. While Macy Inc.’s raised its earnings and revenue guidance for the year, a spike in spending spooked investors. The pain continued as J.C. Penney Co.’s surprise prediction for an annual loss drove its stock down 27 per cent, prompting one analyst to call the shares “worthless”.

Nordstrom clearly broke the mold. The company has been ramping up sales at its discount-focused Rack chain in an effort to avoid having to put items at its full-price stores on sale. A 23 per cent gain in e-commerce sales also fuelled the results.

Nordstrom’s approach to overcoming the so-called “retail apocalypse” — consumers’ shift away from traditional brick-and-mortar stores — has been more experimental than its rivals. The chain now has an inventory-free store, and it also opened a store for men’s goods in Manhattan in April, where customers can purchase items online and pick them at any time — even if the store is closed. A women’s location will follow across the street in the fall of 2019.

The numbers build on what has been a good year for Nordstrom investors. The stock has climbed about 10 per cent since the start of the year, outpacing the gain in the S&P 500 Index. In March, after failing to agree on a buyout price, Nordstrom’s board and the Nordstrom family ended talks about taking the company private.

Nordstrom also reported that gross profit margin, a percentage of revenue minus a range of expenses, widened to 35 per cent. That’s 91 basis points higher than a year earlier.

The company did, however, attribute a percentage point of the 7.1 per cent revenue gain in the period to an anniversary sale. The impact from the sale “is expected to fully reverse in the third quarter,” the company said in a statement.

— Bloomberg