Dana Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group
On the private label, where does private label as a percent of the business go to?
Sally Frame Kasaks
Well, we don’t do it as total, we are more segmented towards juniors and young men’s and we’ve indicated that young men’s would probably be 25% to 30% proprietary and juniors somewhere around 50%. Now that’s pretty consistent. It might go up a little, down a little, based on our bull-head denim but certainly there is opportunity within that but we are also working with our brands on a number of initiatives as well.
Dana Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group
Got it. And then the competitive environment and the customer, Sally, how do you see that changing?
Sally Frame Kasaks
I don’t know. I think -- you know, we read about the frugal pain and there are a lot of statistics out there. At this point, we do know that there is a group of teens moving into our space demographically over the next couple of years and we, I think are prepared in terms of our assortments and the changes we have made to meet them. Right now though, they are being very careful on how they are spending their money from what we can see. As I said, we have a $39.50 fleece. We put it on a table, no signage for a few days and it became one of the top items in the company without broadcasting it. So I think the teen today, they are alert, they are aware, they know what’s going on and I think that the general influence of all the economic news and parents and everything is influencing them. They are buying smart.
Dana Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group
And are you adjusting your marketing budget not only in terms of dollars but in terms of what you are doing too?
Sally Frame Kasaks
Well, we do very little, so I mean -- if you look at our margin, we have done very little. I think our major marketing initiative this year has probably been moving to paper bags because we do know that they don’t like plastic in this generation, but our marketing budget is very small. It continues to be a lot of it geared towards our e-com site. That’s a very important part of our long-term strategy, as well as some points -- greater clarity in our point of sale. We also do a little bit of advertising in Vogue. We use the Vogue teen board as well as our surf, skate, and sport magazines but it’s -- we’re not -- we don’t have a large budget there. We’re obviously always looking at it. We’re trying to do things smarter but it’s not a significant number related to some of the other areas to look at.
Dana Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group
Thank you. Best of luck.
Sally Frame Kasaks
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Paul Lejuez of Credit Suisse.
Tracy Kogan - Credit Suisse
It’s actually Tracy Kogan filling in for Paul. I have two quick questions, first for Sally -- can you talk a little bit more about the men’s business? I know you guys have talked about some changing trends there in the top area. When do you expect to see more improvement in that business? |