Newsmakers - LuLuLemon Athletica narrows its hunt for an e-commerce chief

The retailer says it’s in the final offer stages with a candidate.

Kevin Woodward

Senior Editor

Yoga apparel retailer LuLuLemon Athletica Inc. could select its next head of global e-commerce soon, four months after its former senior vice president of global e-commerce, Chris Ladd, left to join another retailer.

The company is in the “final offer stages with a new head of global e-commerce,” said Christine M. Day, CEO and president, during a recent conference call with analysts to discuss LuLuLemon’s fourth quarter and 2011 results. LuLuLemon declined to disclose more details.

Having an e-commerce chief will be crucial for LuLuLemon, No. 229 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, as e-commerce gains importance for the company. For example, e-commerce sales have represented 11% of the company’s sales since the launch of a redesigned LuLuLemon site last April, Day said during the call. “To put this achievement into perspective, in the fourth quarter alone, we did $50 million in e-commerce sales compared to $57 million for the full year in 2010,” Day said.

For the 2011 fiscal year ending Jan. 29, 2012, LuLuLemon posted:

An increase in direct sales, which the retailer says are virtually all online, of 85.5% to $106.3 from $57.3 million in 2010.
An increase in net revenue of 40.5% to $1.0 billion from $711.7 million in fiscal 2010.
Growth in comparable-store sales of 20%.
Growth in net income of 51.4% to $185.0 million from $122.2 million in 2010.

For the 2011 fourth quarter, LuLuLemon posted:

An increase in direct sales of 103.7% to $50.1 million from $24.6 million in 2010.
An increase in net revenue of 51.4% to $371.5 million from $245.4 million in fiscal 2010.
Growth in comparable-store sales of 26%.
Growth in net income of 34.4% to $73.9 million from $55.0 million in 2010.

Timothy Peterson, chief marketing officer and co-founder of LocFree.com, will speak at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2012 in Chicago in a session entitled “Attracting and retaining talent in a competitive market.”

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