Canada Goose Holdings Inc

TSX:GOOS

Earnings Call Transcript 2025-Q2

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Krista, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Canada Goose Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Ana Raman, Vice President, Investor Relations. Ana, you may begin

[Ana Raman, executive]

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me today are Dani Reiss, our Chairman and CEO; Carrie Baker, President of Brand and Commercial; Beth Clymer, President of Finance, Strategy and Administration; and Neil Bowden, Chief Financial Officer. Today's presentation will contain forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions and, therefore, are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to update these statements except as required by law. You can read about these assumptions, risks and uncertainties in our press release issued this morning as well as in our filings with U.S. and Canadian regulators. These documents are also available on the Investor Relations section of our website. .

We report in Canadian dollars, so all amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Please note that financial results described on today's call will compare second quarter results ended September 29, 2024, with the same period ended October 1, 2023, unless otherwise noted. Lastly, our commentary today will also include certain non-IFRS financial measures, which are reconciled at the end of our earnings press release. For today's call, Dani, Carrie, Beth and Neil will deliver prepared remarks, following which we will open the call to take questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dani.

[Dani Reiss, executive]

Thanks, Ana, and good morning, everyone. I'll turn my thoughts on our second quarter results and progress and then turn it over to Carrie, Beth and Neil to review our performance in greater detail. All in a solid start to the year with sales up 4% in the first quarter. Top line momentum decelerated in the second quarter, down 5% year-over-year. Our Wholesale business as expected, down 15% year-over-year on a reported basis as we continue to elevate the status of our brand presence within the channel. Our DTC business came under more pressure than anticipated, and we faced an increasingly challenging consumer environment. This resulted in DTC comparable sales declining 13% over the second quarter of last year. As Carrie will discuss later, we also shifted the timing of some of our marketing spend as we build excitement with First Capital from our Creative Director, Haider Ackermann, to be unveiled later this month. While this shift impacted Q2 results, we expect to see benefit from this activity over the second half of the fiscal year through more marketing dollars at work across several initiatives. As a reminder, approximately 75% of our revenue opportunity is still ahead of us this based on our historical performance. We remain steadfast in our view that we can drive positive DTC comparable sales growth out of our stores in both the near and the long term. We are focused on executing with excellence through a busy holiday season in building an enduring brand that connects with our customers.

In the second quarter, we took concrete actions to our three key operating imperatives that set us up for success. That said, due to a softer second quarter and the weaker macro environment around us that has impacted consumer confidence, you will see that we introduced a lower range to our guidance. As a reminder, our three operating imperatives are: number one, setting the foundation for the next stage of our brand and product evolution; number two, implementing best-in-class luxury retail execution; and number three, simplifying the way that we operate. I will share some insight into our first operating imperative, while touching on some elements where second imperative and the both will be expanded upon later this call.

First, as it relates to preparing for the next stage of our brand and product evolution. Through the first half of this fiscal year, we set the foundations for long-term product design and development of Canada Goose, opening our new design studio in Paris and building a strong team that support Haider in the execution of our product vision. We've come a long way of building the infrastructure and capabilities in just a matter of months, and we are now just a few weeks out to launching Haider's First Capital. I'm incredibly excited and incredibly proud of our teams and the progress that they've made to get us ready for this very important milestone.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we started to tease high-risk capsule with an exclusive launch of Iceland. We hosted a group of industry influencers and global media to experience his new collection against one of the most inspiring backdrops in the world. I was there myself to see the overwhelmingly positive response to this capsule, which will appear under the label Snow Goose. This is the brand name we operated under before we became Canada. With this capsule, Haider reached deep into our archives, the source of inspiration to innovate in both our core and newer product categories. This new collection represents where we've come from and where we're going. And we'll sell alongside Canada Goose's mainline. Haider vision and his respect for where we've been makes this new collection a perfect expression of our future.

In regards to our second and third operating imperatives, we have taken measured steps to simplify the way we work and advance our retail execution. As a result, we are well positioned for our peak selling season from having a product where it needs to be throughout our retail network through readying our stores to greet guests as they arrive and offer them elevated shopping experiences. You will hear more about these and other initiatives during today's call.

When we spoke to you first about our three operating imperatives at the beginning of our fiscal year, we knew that execution would not be easy. We are in the midst of a transformation and transformation of this magnitude takes time, especially within the current backdrop. I spent my entire life in this industry. Trends and economic cycles come and go, we have proven resilient through the evolution of our business. With this understanding, we are pushing forward by the intent and focus on driving change for long-term impact which has had some short-term impact on our results. We are committed to doing the hard things and making the hard decisions to fulfill our brand's potential, all of which is underpinned by a resilient business model, a strong brand by a deep heritage of qualitating craftsmanship, our vertical integration and a deeply committed team. As our key operating imperatives come together, we believe that our efforts will drive improvement in our overall business performance and enhance the strength of our brand.

And with that, I will now turn it over to Carrie.

[Carrie Baker, executive]

Thanks, Dani. Q2 a productive quarter as our team continued to execute against our key operating imperatives while also preparing for peak our season. We made significant progress on several fronts, which I'm proud of, and I'm excited to share with you shortly. First though, let me start by putting our Q2 DTC comparable sales results into context. One of our biggest priorities in retail this fiscal is driving comp growth, but this fell short of our expectations in the quarter. Year-over-year DTC comp revenue declined 13% as performance in Asia Pacific and North America weighed on overall results. While EMEA comp growth was down year-over-year, performance improved sequentially compared to our first quarter. On a global basis, store traffic and conversion declined year-over-year, while e-commerce saw increased sessions yet lower conversion. The exception here was also EMEA where store traffic was up significantly, reflecting the busy summer event season in the region. We were encouraged to see conversions start to improve across our key regions in September.

While consumer sentiment weakened during the quarter, our Q2 performance was further pressured by two decisions we made in line with our long-term strategy, a part of the transformation work we started last year. First, we made the deliberate decision to implement most of our marketing spend in the second half of fiscal '25 as opposed to previous years where we typically ramp investments in Q2. This enables us to fully support the launch of Haider's first capsule ahead of holiday, our season of strength, and showcase our elevated brand expression and consumer engagement strategy during our peak season when it matters most. Haider's first capsule is a big brand moment for Canada Goose, not just from a product perspective but also in how our brand comes to life across all touch points. Driving increased brand momentum is a critical goal this year, and while this capsule is just the beginning, it marks a milestone moment for the brand.

Second, we are working towards a more productive and curated product assortment focusing on icons and bestsellers, while we expanded to other categories strategically. Compared to previous years, we made a conscious choice to limit the total volume of newness this season, adding new styles where they were needed most by building on key product families. The benefit of this decision is we're better able to engage our customers through clear storytelling as well as giving space and focus in our DTC channels to Haider's new designs. While this means fewer new styles this season, this decision sets us up to deliver a more strategic offering to drive sales and conversion in the long term.

Now let me share highlights from our Q2 operating imperatives, which aim to address these performance issues, starting with our product and brand operating imperative. From a product perspective, it's no secret that we occupy an enviable position of leadership in delivering the warmest outerwear, but we are fully focused on complementing that with new innovative styles that expand into other categories and seasons. Early results are encouraging. Our spring/summer '24 collection was positively received in particular, our apparel and everyday products, confirming the significant market opportunity for a full year assortment. And more recently, we launched our fall winter collection in September, which delivers a more useful attitude with relevant silhouettes and style forward designs that don't compromise on function. Based on October sales results, which are substantially improved over Q2, this collection is resonating. Looking ahead, our category expansion story now includes eyewear as we announced plans to launch our first collection in Spring 2025 in partnership with Our DNA of protection and craftsmanship translate well into eyewear, and we're excited to see this category come to life soon.

Lastly, on the product front, we have hired a new head of merchandising, who will start early in 2025 to lead and strengthen our long-term product strategy. This is a critical role that we have not had in the business for some time and will be a driving force in working with Haider and his creative vision. Together, they will build a product offering that strengthens the link between market demand and our product road map to drive both revenue and margin.

Turning to marketing activity highlights. In Q2, we continue to move the needle on the marketing front in targeted ways. We launched an engaging campaign with our global brand ambassador and NBA star, she Alexander, which delivered increased earned media, significant new subscribers, strong social engagement as well as solid commercial results. In September, we joined the world of live streaming with the opening of a new sales channel on Chinese social platform, This is a powerful way for us to tell our brand story and engage customers in a more direct way on style and functional aspects of our products. Our performance in these early days of is strong and contributed meaningfully to our Asia Pacific e-commerce revenue in Q2. And we were successful in expanding our audience, both on social and our own community. Through consistent and targeted engagement, we have grown the number of subscribers by over 30% year-over-year, with the share of e-mail attributed sales in our e-commerce revenue also growing significantly. In the near term, our attention and focus is on creating excitement for Haider's capsule and a bolder brand expression overall and sustain that momentum through commercial and regional campaigns that also drive demand for our mainline collection. The expedition we led in Iceland that Dani mentioned earlier, reflects our experience first marketing strategy designed to make impressions, not buy them. The capsule campaign that follows will build on our authenticity and credibility as an experiential brand, amplified globally through a robust marketing campaign with investments throughout the funnel, including digital and out-of-home campaigns, regional events and impactful retail theater. Early data coming out of our campaign indicates that brand momentum is building, reflected through the level of earned media impressions globally, growth in our social following an increase in U.S. search demand and continued growth of our membership base. Another critical component of our brand and product evolution imperative is our wholesale strategy. Our efforts to elevate the wholesale shopping experience started nearly 18 months ago and began to bear fruit in Q2. Key second quarter achievements include positive sell-through with our top partners in EMEA, our largest fulsome market, which were versus prior year trends. Our brand was better positioned within strategic wholesale partners, including a men's Gallery Lafayette alongside luxury peers, resulting in significantly higher sales compared to the same period last year. We also made significant progress in reducing the availability of our product with wholesale distributors that have historically not treated our product in a brand aligned way. This has resulted in considerable improvement of our full price positioning. We also experienced solid travel retail growth as we gain deeper experience in this relatively new channel. And last but not least, in October, we introduced an elevated and bold visual expression at Selfridges in London, having just launched a Polar Bears international pop-up experience and taking over the entire window displays with our fall/winter collection. We're pleased with the progress we've made in our wholesale business and are on track to deliver our full year outlook for this channel.

Finally, let me touch on our second operating imperative, implementing best-in-class retail execution. In Q2, we grew our permanent retail store network, opening 2 new stores in Montreal, Canada, and Wuhan, China and converted 2 temporary spaces into permanent stores, 1 in Birmingham, U.K. and 1 in Shanghai, China. This brings our permanent store count to 72. We also expanded our store in Tokyo's luxury epicenter, the Ginza District, which now provides guests with an elevated flagship experience, including a beautiful VIP space and our renowned cold room.

Last quarter, we laid out three streams of work to level up execution across our retail network. First, boosting our sales training; second, strengthening store operations; and third, improving product availability. Our efforts here through the first half of the year have ensured our stores are well prepared to capitalize on the selling opportunities throughout our peak season. They are well stacked with labor optimized for weekend traffic. Employees are well trained to deliver that Canadian warmth experience, and our floors are well stocked for customers to find the product they're looking for.

As mentioned earlier, we saw the most prominent evidence of this preparation in our EMEA stores where these initiatives were quickly implemented across the regional network and have led to steadily improving conversion. With a much larger store base, it's taking a little longer in North America, but we are applying that same playbook for success there and also in Asia Pacific. We've made tremendous progress in the first half of our fiscal, and we are far from done as our journey of transformation continues. A change of this magnitude takes time, but we are on the right path. Near-term headwinds aside, we know what we are capable of delivering in Q3, and we are full steam ahead. I'll now pass it over to Beth.

[Beth Clymer, executive]

Thanks, Carrie, and good morning all. Our third operating imperative in fiscal '25 is to simplify and focus the way we operate as an organization. We are doing this through internal operating excellence and focused capital deployment. We've made good progress on both of these fronts in our second quarter, which I'll take you through now.

Starting with achieving operating excellence. In Q2, we continued to simplify the way we work, and ensure our spending while investing in key areas to drive growth through the business. To share some examples, we've been aggressively reviewing our third-party vendors, which has resulted in the renegotiation or cancellation of numerous contracts in the first half of the year and yielded significant savings. We also continue to evolve our teams in ways that reduce costs and improve their effectiveness. We continue to prudently manage our headcount, hiring for only the most critical roles as we exercise discipline over our cost base. While we've been hiring since the workforce reductions we implemented at the end of our last fiscal year in March, we have also been very judicious about when and whether roles are truly needed. Our actions drove efficiency with our Q2 SG&A expenses decreasing year-over-year. This occurred despite investments in critical areas such as technology, infrastructure, product design, including scaling up the team in our Paris design studio. However, it's important to note that due to slower top line growth, SG&A as a percent of revenue increased year-over-year after normalizing for adjustments in both periods. We acknowledge the importance of cost and we are not satisfied with this outcome. However, we believe our focused investment and cost management strategies position us well to improve SG&A as a percent of revenue as we drive sales growth in the coming quarters. We intend to continue implementing specific cost optimization initiatives and remain disciplined in allocating resources to investments that directly support revenue growth, no matter the market conditions. We expect these actions plus the scaling of revenue to yield tangible improvements in SG&A efficiencies.

Next, I'll speak about focused capital deployment. As you'll recall, we made a decision to open a smaller number of stores in fiscal '25 while we focus on our existing base. This, plus our general conservatism on capital deployment, has resulted in our CapEx declining significantly year-over-year in the second quarter, even while we invest in critical areas that drive revenue and strengthen the foundations of our business to support speed and scale. We also made significant progress in rightsizing our inventory levels. Inventory at the end of our second quarter decreased 9% year-over-year, an acceleration from a 7% year-on-year decrease at the end of Q1. It also marks our fourth consecutive quarter of decreasing our year-over-year inventory balance. We realize this by temporarily lowering production levels with both our third-party contract manufacturing partners and in our own facilities. We supplemented that with friends and family sales to continue exiting slow-moving inventory and noncarryover styles. This resulted in a 0.9x inventory turnover for the 12-month period ending September 29, 2024. A 13% improvement year-over-year, accelerating from a 6% year-on-year improvement last quarter. We expect to see continued movement in our inventory turnover in the second half of the year as demand increases in our peak season and our sales ramp up. All of our efforts are contributing to improved inventory health within our operations and across our channels. As we achieve those goals, we are gradually rescaling our production capacity to support both this year's peak season and next fiscal year, while still staying focused on improving inventory turns.

Overall, we're pleased with the progress made in simplifying our operations and deploying our capital responsibly in Q2. We are committed to identifying and implementing further changes on an ongoing basis as we evolve our culture and internalized discipline and efficiency across the organization. I'll now pass it over to Neil to discuss our Q2 financial performance and outlook. .

[Neil Bowden, executive]

Thanks, Beth. As you've heard so far today, we are making good progress across our execution levers. I'll start with reviewing our second quarter financial performance and then discuss our updated outlook. Revenue in Q2 was down 5% year-over-year or 6% on a constant currency basis due to a decline in D2C revenue and a planned decrease in wholesale revenue, partially offset by an increase in other channel revenue. First, I will describe our regional performance on a year-over-year constant currency basis.

North America revenue decreased 3% on lower D2C and wholesale revenue, partially offset by higher sales activity in the other channel, primarily friends and family events. Asia Pacific revenue grew 3%, mainly due to higher travel retail revenue in Greater China, which is included in our wholesale business, partially offset by lower D2C in the region. And revenue in EMEA was down 17%, primarily due to a planned decrease in wholesale revenue.

From a channel perspective, second quarter DTC revenue was down 5% or 6% on a constant currency basis due to softer demand in both our in-store and e-commerce channels. DTC comparable sales were down 13% year-over-year due to the factors Carrie discussed earlier that impacted both traffic and conversion in the quarter. August and September were the more challenging months in the quarter as consumer sentiment weakened. It's worth repeating that despite consumer caution in our markets, we believe that being somewhat quieter on marketing ahead of the Haider capsule launch later this fall dampened traffic as well.

We began to see some improvement towards the end of September as we started to ramp up our marketing investments with the second drop of our fall/winter collection and the kickoff of the Snow Goose campaign. I would like to point out that Golden Week was a bright spot for us with revenue in Mainland China better than last year for a 7-day period. While this is one week out of a full quarter and not an indicator of the total period, it does demonstrate the strength of our brand in China.

Our focus continues to be on the day in, day out retail execution. And our expectation continues to be that these actions will result in positive comparable sales growth in fiscal '25. We've seen a trajectory improvement to positive comparable sales growth in October in several of our stores in Mainland China, EMEA, the U.S. and Canada, although pockets of consumer pressure remain throughout those markets. Online performance is lagging somewhat, though it is being bolstered by the launch of Duan and some early singles day sales in Mainland China. Mainland China performed well in October, leading to a low single-digit increase in total DTC comparable sales growth for the month.

Q2 wholesale revenue was down 15% or 17% on a constant currency basis, reflecting our planned lower order book as we elevate the quality of this channel. For the first half of the year, wholesale revenue was down 21%, which is in line with our full year outlook. While the North American and EMEA order books are smaller year-over-year as planned, there is improvement in both Greater China and Korea as we deepen our wholesale relationships, especially in key travel retail locations, such as Hainan Island and airports. Despite continued uncertainty about traditional and pure-play digital wholesale partners, channel inventory is significantly improved year-over-year. We are seeing stronger commercial alignment, as you heard from Carrie, about the brand's representation at our partners. This gives us optimism about this channel moving forward.

Revenue in our other channel segment increased to $26.6 million in Q2 of fiscal '25, up from $9.7 million in Q2 of fiscal '24, primarily due to an increase in friends and family sales to exit slower moving and discontinued inventory. We expect to be much quieter on this front in the third quarter and are evaluating opportunities in early calendar 2025. In addition, we had positive improvements from third-party sales from the newer manufacturing facility we acquired in Q3 of fiscal '24 and employee sales for which we implemented a new program in Q3 of fiscal '24.

Let's now turn to gross profit. Our second quarter gross profit decreased by 9% year-over-year. Gross margin declined 260 basis points to 61.3%, primarily due to a higher proportion of non-heavy weight down revenue within our product mix. We expect to expand gross margin over the balance of the fiscal year driven by a more favorable DTC channel mix, lapping both the acquisition of our European knitwear manufacturer, and introduction of our updated employee sales program complemented by further cost efficiencies on production labor and more favorable overhead absorption than planned.

Moving further down the P&L. Our adjusted EBIT was $2.5 million, which was down from $15.6 million in the second quarter of last year. While we reduced overall SG&A expenses by nearly $15 million, top line pressure resulted in a lower adjusted EBIT -- and lower adjusted EBIT margin. We've mentioned several ongoing initiatives aimed at driving the top line while also demonstrating discipline in managing our cost base. Lower SG&A in Q2 was primarily due to lower corporate SG&A spend and a shift in timing of our marketing spend to the back half of this fiscal year. This was primarily offset by higher costs associated with operating 10 more permanent stores year-over-year and increased technology and design studio investments. Decreases in corporate SG&A spend was primarily due to savings that resulted from the workforce reductions implemented in fiscal '24 and significant costs associated with a transformation program in Q2 last year, which was included in our reported results and excluded from adjusted EBIT.

Lastly, on the income statement, Q2 adjusted net income attributable to shareholders was $5.2 million or $0.05 per diluted share compared to $16.2 million or $0.16 per diluted share in Q2 fiscal '24.

Turning to our balance sheet. At the end of the quarter, inventory was $473 million, down 9% year-over-year, driven by a noticeable decrease in finished goods. We ended the quarter with $826 million of net debt compared with $852 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal '24. We ended the period with approximately $282 million in unused borrowing capacity on our revolving credit facility. Our net debt leverage at the end of the second quarter was 2.9x adjusted EBITDA compared with 3.3x at the same time last year. We expect to end the year with leverage below historical levels.

As a reminder, our capital allocation priorities towards driving shareholder value are: first, to invest in organic growth opportunity, including brand and product development as well as in the expansion of our retail network. Second, to invest in the foundational needs of the business like leveling up our technology; and third, to ensure we have an efficient capital structure.

Turning now to our fiscal 2025 financial outlook. While our revenue for the first half of fiscal '25 is largely in line with our forecast, our DTC business has performed below our expectations. Considering the weakening in consumer sentiment since we provided our initial outlook in May and our first half performance, we are taking the prudent decision to introduce a bottom range to our full year fiscal '25 guidance. Full year fiscal '25 revenue is expected to range between an increase in the low single digits to a low single-digit decline compared to fiscal '24. We expect D2C comparable sales to also move in a similar range this year versus the prior year. We continue to expect wholesale revenue to decrease 20% year-over-year, which is unchanged from our initial outlook. Our gross margin outlook is also unchanged, which we expect will remain similar in fiscal '25 compared to the previous year. Due to the lower range we are providing on the top line, we expect non-IFRS adjusted EBIT margin to range between an increase of 60 basis points to a decline of 60 basis points over the prior year. We have lowered the top end of our adjusted EBIT margin range from the 100 basis point increase in our initial outlook to reflect our increased investments in marketing activities compared to what we planned at the onset of the year, and a change in our expected regional revenue mix towards Asia Pacific. We expect the lower mix contribution in D2C comparable sales from North America and EMEA to compress margins given the higher fixed cost structures in these regions, particularly in our stores. As a result, we expect non-IFRS adjusted net income per diluted share to increase in the mid-single-digit range with approximately 98 million shares and weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

Let me remind you, 75% of our revenue is historically recorded in the back half of our fiscal year, and we are relentlessly working to drive positive comparable sales growth over that period.

To close out today's prepared remarks, I'd underscore that we're encouraged by the progress we're making to transform our operations and to evolve engagement with the Canada Goose brand despite difficult macro conditions. Let me reiterate that a transformation of this magnitude takes time, and things are moving in the right direction as we build stronger connections with our consumers and deliver elevated shopping experiences. Our team is deeply engaged in executing across our 3 operating imperatives with an immediate focus on delivering sales during our peak season. We continue to test and learn and unlock opportunities across our brand, product and D2C execution and are confident in our ability to stabilize our revenue base, leading to improved and sustainable growth and profitability in the near and long term.

With that, I'll open the call up for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Adrian Yih with Barclays.

[Adrienne Yih-Tennant, analyst]

Dani, I guess, we're -- the macro aside, the macro kind of setting everybody back, let's call it, a year, and it's not to you specific, it's just macro generally. But as we think about kind of the things that you can control, let's say, the notion that we kind of want to move some of the seasonality and not have so much concentrated in the back 2 quarters of the year, expansion into other categories, non -- more of the seasonal adjusted kind of like apparel for other seasons. Can you talk about what the business looks like by channel mix and by region, by winter versus kind of nonseasonal apparel in 3 to 5 years? So just kind of maybe like a relandscape of that LRP that you had given us is probably pre-pandemic just to recalibrate where we are in that cycle.

[Dani Reiss, executive]

Yes. Thank you for your question. And I'll give some high-level comment or any color on the future. I mean I think that -- we know that our opportunity remains tremendous, and we know that our brand is extremely strong through multiple ways of research that we've been doing, and we're very excited about that, and we -- from a product evolution point of view, we've evolved as you've seen our -- evolved quite a bit over the last number of years and the plans for that to continue. merchandiser joining us soon, which will really help with that. And with our new design studio in Paris, which is to be one of the biggest thing we're doing this year and was a platform making to drive this business forward. We're really going to have strong design desirable products coming out of -- coming out of that facility. And work together, of course, the design capabilities here in Toronto and manufacturing capabilities in Canada. So I do believe that my vision is to see our product line expand quite considerably with beautiful products, people are -- people really wants to have, and we'll be diligently to organization that can support that.

[Beth Clymer, executive]

This is Beth. I'll add to that. Well, obviously, we're not specifically pointing to that long-term guidance anymore. There are many themes in that that remain very true. We have a significant amount of footprint expansion opportunity across all geographies. We have a significant amount of expansion of retail and DTC execution expense and opportunity, brand building opportunity that will continue to grow consumer sentiment, which will create both DTC and wholesale revenue opportunities in multiple markets. And we do expect to see our non-heavy down categories grow faster because they are newer categories for us. But we also believe there's plenty of growth opportunities in heavyweight down as well. So the thematic elements that you heard in that long-range plan, we certainly still feel are very much true, even though the specific revenue and EBIT forecast suggested by that we pulled back up.

[Adrienne Yih-Tennant, analyst]

Great. And then a quick one, just a follow-up for Neil. What was the shift in marketing dollars? How should we think about that hitting the SG&A line as we model out the SG&A for next quarter? And then are there any stores, anywhere globally that are not hitting your 4-wall, your internal, your IRR metrics that would be under consideration for potential closing? Or is that kind of not even in those cards?

[Dani Reiss, executive]

Yes. I'll take the second part of the question first, Adrian, and thanks for your questions. No, we're not giving any consideration to that right now. The focus for the business top to bottom, it's about peak and peak execution. And to the extent that we need to look beyond that, we will at the right time. But right now, we're very focused on driving productivity and profitability out of every store. And as a reminder, our metrics in those stores are very, very strong.

[Neil Bowden, executive]

As it relates to shift in marketing, we don't necessarily give color on specific marketing spend or where it falls particularly in the quarters. But what I can tell you is on a year-to-year basis, we're going to be slightly up in the marketing spend. And we have been a little bit quieter in the first half than we will be in the second half of the year, obviously, putting all of our half behind the Haider launch, which is coming soon as well as some commercial marketing activities that we know that can drive some search volume and some of the other KPIs that help fund -- help lead to revenue in the channels.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Rick Patel with Raymond James.

[Unknown Analyst]

This is Josh filling in for Rick. I was hoping you can provide additional color behind your plans to improve on the comps for the remainder of the year. Curious how to really think about the opportunity to drive those higher productivity levels on a -- from a regional perspective.

[Carrie Baker, executive]

Yes, absolutely. It's Carrie here. So One of the biggest things that we started in the first half is what I talked about before of making sure our stores are well staffed -- or sorry, well stocked with inventory, and we're in such a better position than we were this time last year, even 6 months ago. We've made considerable efforts on training our staff and then also making sure that we're staffed appropriately when we see the traffic. So all of those programs have been massive efforts in the first half, and we started to see green shoots of that probably fastest in EMEA as we talked about, we're applying that same playbook to every region. And so we're really seeing that improvement in APAC. North America is taking a little bit longer. It's obviously a larger store base. So really, it's continuing what we've already started and making sure that we're just being as aggressive as you have been in the first half. Hopefully, with the influx of more marketing, we're going to see a little bit more traffic, especially in our comp stores. So to me, it's really staying in the past. It's things that we've already done and hopefully seeing a lot more traction from those efforts.

[Dani Reiss, executive]

And I think as we stand here today as well, I mean, we're clearly through the first big month in our peak. We've got some data on how those things have contributed. There are regions, particularly China, where we see that some level of resilience in the consumer that perhaps wasn't there in the second quarter. And so that gives us a degree of confidence. What we can do about the macro is really out of our control. And so we're focused on how do we drive the traffic to the stores and then all the stuff that Carrie just referred to, that helps lead to conversion once they're in there. And I just don't think we can underscore enough how much effort there is around the world going into labor and training and ensuring that the luxury experience for the consumer is where it needs to be as we get deep into peak.

[Unknown Analyst]

And one quick follow-up on just that China component. Can you talk -- Mike, I know you performed pretty well relative to the industry. Can you talk about what you're currently seeing from like the Chinese consumer? Perhaps any more color on what you're seeing in China that can inform our expectations for the region for the rest of the year?

[Neil Bowden, executive]

Yes. I think today, the story is a little bit different than it probably was in the second quarter. We have continued to open stores as planned. We know that as you probably do the macro environment in China, is a challenge. We're hopeful that the stimulus that came through will lead to something over the long term. We're not necessarily planning for that. What we do know is that our brand resonates with Chinese consumers wherever they are in the world, and they shop our stores in Canada, in the U.S., in Europe and especially in Mainland China. Travel seems to be somewhat muted, but again, that's over a long term, those trends will correct. What we have seen in the past few weeks with both Golden Week and with Singles Day is some positive forward momentum. We're hopeful that, that trajectory continues. And that gives us, as I said a few moments ago, some confidence that the Chinese consumer will continue to support

[Carrie Baker, executive]

And just want to add on there is the other -- the growth that we're seeing also in -- with our wholesale business, whether it's travel retail, that also gives us confidence. There is demand out there. Our partners do want more inventory. And so having been there, yes, it's a little quieter. So if that really affects the luxury tender. But I think so many bright spots that are giving us confidence in both the mid and long term.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowen.

[Oliver Chen, analyst]

Regarding the new Head of Merchandising, what would be some key priorities. And as you think ahead with the innovation and the execution you're having with the new creative designer, how are you thinking about creating new icons and the balancing new versus evergreen product and is developing new evergreen icons as well.

[Carrie Baker, executive]

Oliver, Carrie again. So our new head of merchandising. So I mentioned in my remarks that worth noting, they will be working very closely, obviously, with Haider and the team in broadening our assortment. So again, we've made such great progress in showing up as a lifestyle brand, but there's so many more opportunities still ahead of us. And as you said, we're not trying to deal more just for the sake of more. We want to do more, that's better. And so reflected by our current season offering, it's a lot of focus on bestsellers and icons because we don't want to just have this broad assortment that confuses customers. We want to have a very clear, while not a distinctive voice that comes through our products. So whether it's eyewear that we're introducing, whether it's accessories, whether it's doubling down on some new icons that we're introducing for heavyweight down, that's going to be the focus. So really understanding the consumer demand, listening to what they're asking for, but then also really translating our DNA of who Canada Goose is and protection and performance and style.

[Oliver Chen, analyst]

Okay. And Neil, as we think about the gross margin longer term, what should we know about puts and takes that you could articulate and also category mix dynamics?

[Neil Bowden, executive]

Yes. I mean I think keeping in mind that I don't necessarily have a long-term view out. I'll speak sort of more qualitatively Oliver. Clearly, product mix over the last many years has shifted away from heavy weight down in a way that excites us, both because it makes store economics really, really attractive as we start to get deeper into the categories that as Carrie just alluded to the merchandising leader will help alongside Haider. And so product mix perhaps creates a little bit of a headwind. I'm not certain that's the case. But it certainly is going to create a lot more dollars of gross profit and ultimately, EBIT leverage as we look forward. We continue to be vertically integrated. That is a major competitive advantage for us. The team that exists both in our product development chain as well as inside our supply chain, are laser-focused on delivering high-quality products to the consumers love -- that consumers love, but it allows us to control the manufacturing in a cost environment that gives us informed decisions. And so we think, as I say, I think that gives us a competitive advantage over the long term. I think beyond that, certainly, our view is over the long term, we want to grow each revenue channel and we're going to do that responsibly through comp growth as well as some pricing. But pricing isn't necessarily the lever that we want to pull. We want to pull on creating tremendous products for our consumers and growing volume through those -- through all of our channels.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Brook Roach with Goldman Sachs.

[Brooke Roach, analyst]

I was hoping you could elaborate on your plans to drive an acceleration in comp trends in North America? And how you're thinking about that growth opportunity between stores and online? And then separately, can you contextualize the number of days of wholesale inventory you have on hand by channel or by region in the channel?

[Carrie Baker, executive]

Thanks, Brooke, it's Carrie here. So in terms of accelerating DTC cost in North America, so we talked about North America has a little more on the store front just gives a larger network a little more mature, and so it just hasn't come as fast as maybe some other regions. And so it's the same playbook that we talked about. So making sure that we're just being super diligent on whether it's traffic, labor -- matching labor hours, monitoring BA performance, making sure we've got the right inventory in those stores. It's really the same playbook. The only other thing I would say in North America is looking at just the state of the U.S. So Canada is actually remaining quite strong in an environment where the macro headwinds are there. I would say the luxury spending in the U.S. and the weakened consumer sentiment is impacting those stores a little bit more. And so we're looking at whether we need to put a little more marketing investment. How do we make sure that we're being responsible to the different consumer demand patterns that we see by region. The brand health is not the same across the U.S. And so we're being very laser-focused on a local level to drive that comp performance. In terms of wholesale channel, do you want to talk about inventory?

[Beth Clymer, executive]

Yes, I can -- I'll take the question, Brook, about inventory by channel and region. So I think there's really two stories here. There is the wholesale channel inventory story, which is that we are in a significantly lower inventory position in the channel this year than we were last year. That's obviously quite intentional. Our pullback in wholesale revenue this year is to create that so that those wholesalers can experience our sell-through so that we are maintaining our full price proposition and wholesale as well in retail. And so we see that coming to fruition, which we and our wholesale partners are pleased with. In D2C, it's the opposite. We were not in, as Carrie alluded to, a strong enough inventory position in DTC everywhere. We had certain products that were well received by customers that were sold through too quickly, et cetera. So we are in a much stronger inventory position in our D2C channel now at the beginning of peak than we were last year. And we expect that will retain and we're leveraging the vertical integration. You heard Neil talk about earlier, to capitalize on that and to chase sales opportunities when they do exist and we can get more product quickly enough. So that's really is really a tale of 2 channels there. By region, I think there's a lot of variation between region, those are pretty -- those themes are pretty true across regions within each of those channels.

[Operator]

And that concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ana Raman for closing comments.

[Ana Raman, executive]

Thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. We look forward to giving you our next update with our Q3 results. We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season. Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.