Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from the line of Ryan [McGoth] with Research Edge.
Ryan McGoth - Research Edge
Matt, I was hoping you could just talk a little bit about the competitive landscape. A lot has happened this quarter, just aside from the changes in the cost environment. We’ve had Amazon, Zappo, we’ve had Walmart moving away from footwear. You’re going more direct to the [inaudible] on dot.com. I know that’s a mouthful but there’s really [inaudible] change out there and I was hoping you could just give your view on where we are in the macro and industry cycle.
Matthew E. Rubel
Yeah, I think where we are is, you know, from my perspective, we’re at the bottom. So I think the second quarter really represented the bottom and we did indicate that we are seeing solid business at back-to-school and so from the standpoint of what’s going on with the consumer, I think you had the stimulus, which really impacted us. We had positive comps last year when most of our competitors didn’t and that’s because that drove that money right down into our sector, yet that unemployment sea change from year-on-year was most prevalent in Q2.
So we actually are seeing tremendous opportunity as we move forward and that’s quantitative opportunity both on the cost side as well as an evening of the demand cycle.
Ryan McGoth - Research Edge
When you look at past, just what’s going on overall and the macro is a really big deal for you, obviously because you guys account for such a big part of the units sold in the industry but as far as what other competitors are doing or not doing out there, I mean, just how does that shape where you put your resources internally to more proactively drive your business into next year?
Matthew E. Rubel
Let me speak very constructively on the Payless side -- with the cost increases that we experienced in the first half of the year, we feel as though we’ve got too close to the edge of our white space. Our pricing strategies that we have both in this quarter and going forward really get us clearly back into that white space and I call it a shifted white space based on what people have done with pricing and other things going forward. So I feel like we are really right back in our sweet zone of a white space as we move forward, so I think that’s probably the best way I could articulate it without mentioning any specific competitors here or there. So I would say that that was the challenge we had and I think we’ve been able to address that on the Payless side.
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