Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Our first question comes from Chris Svezia - Susquehanna Financial Group.
Chris Svezia - Susquehanna Financial Group
David, can you just give us an idea of the backlog level between international and domestic wholesale and give us any idea about how much the shift between Q4 and Q1 contributed to 29% increase?
David Weinberg
It’s a big piece. Obviously, the backlog is up more as a percentage basis in international than it is in domestic. But it is still up double-digits in domestic, and I think a piece of that certainly is based on a shift to try to take product closer and not take it at the end of the year.
Chris Svezia - Susquehanna Financial Group
Okay. So, most of the shift is clearly domestic, not necessarily international at all?
David Weinberg
That’s probably true. Q4 is always a short quarter, but our domestic backlogs are up almost 20%, and I don’t know if it’s a big piece, but certainly a significant piece, is stuff that could have shipped in Q4 that shipped in Q1.
Just to clarify, we actually had a very good January shipping life as bad as retail was, and we ended up with a bigger percentage gain than we anticipate having for the quarter, and that also speaks to a shift into early January from December.
Chris Svezia - Susquehanna Financial Group
Can you give us any idea as you look beyond the backlog numbers you are seeing right now, going into the second quarter, maybe late second quarter, what are you seeing beyond spring shipments and what are domestic retailers telling you in terms of backlog? How’s that shaping out?
David Weinberg
We haven’t heard anybody tell us their planning us down certainly, even domestically, given the environment, so I think that’s a positive. Most of our customers had very positive comments on the prelines and the product that was offered; seem to have inventories, at least at the times we had the prelines, pretty much in shape.
So we don’t anticipate anything dramatic changing other than continuing to grow into second and third quarter, going into back-to-school, but the key parts of retail for our product certainly is February and March, and I wouldn’t take anything to the bank until they are done.
Chris Svezia - Susquehanna Financial Group
Okay. Is it fair to say that you continue to grow within existing retail channels and also benefiting from additional square footage growth? Or has there been any change in terms of distribution on the domestic wholesale end of the business?
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
