Hibbett, Inc. (Hibbett) operates as an athletic-inspired fashion retailer with various stores under the Hibbett, City Gear and Sports Additions banners, primarily located in underserved communities.
Hibbett has a history of convenient locations, personalized customer service and access to coveted footwear, apparel and equipment from top brands like Nike, Jordan and adidas.
The company's stores offer a core merchandising mix of premium athletic branded footwear, apparel, accessories and team sp...
Hibbett, Inc. (Hibbett) operates as an athletic-inspired fashion retailer with various stores under the Hibbett, City Gear and Sports Additions banners, primarily located in underserved communities.
Hibbett has a history of convenient locations, personalized customer service and access to coveted footwear, apparel and equipment from top brands like Nike, Jordan and adidas.
The company's stores offer a core merchandising mix of premium athletic branded footwear, apparel, accessories and team sports equipment designed to appeal to the Gen Z customers within each community. The company strives to meet the fashion and technical demands of its customers.
Business Strategy
The company targets underserved communities with branded products and provides a high level of customer service both in the company's stores and online. This strategy establishes greater customer, vendor and landlord recognition as a leading specialty retailer in these communities. The company's ability to align its merchandising mix to local preferences and trends differentiates the company from its national competitors and delivers incremental sales opportunities for the company's vendor partners. The company uses information systems to continually search for ways to improve efficiencies and the customer experience through information system upgrades.
Growth Strategy
The company identifies locations for its stores under a clustered expansion program. This approach primarily focuses on opening new stores within close proximity of existing locations, allowing the company to take advantage of efficiencies in logistics, marketing and regional management. It also aids the company in building a better understanding of appropriate merchandise selection for consumer tastes in that local community. In addition to proximity to existing stores, the company considers population, economic conditions, local competitive dynamics, availability of suitable real estate and potential for return on investment when evaluating potential locations.
The company's customers are digitally savvy and have high expectations that are constantly evolving, including the ability to engage with the company in multiple ways. The company continues to make investments in its omni-channel platform, as well as the company's core website and apps e-commerce experiences.
The company remains focused on the customer experience by reducing friction points and elevating the company's digital and omni-channel experience. In Fiscal 2025, the company expects to continue to invest in next generation omni-channel capabilities that mitigate perennial pain points for the company's store employees and customers. This includes the ability to find and quickly fulfill the products the company's customers are looking for.
Logistics
The company maintains a full-line wholesale and logistics facility in Alabaster, Alabama (a suburb of Birmingham) where the company receives and ships most of its merchandise. For key products, the company maintains backstock at the Alabaster facility. This product is allocated and shipped to stores through an automatic replenishment system based on inventory levels and sales. Merchandise is delivered to stores, and transferred between stores, via small package carriers, company operated vehicles or third-party logistics providers (which also deliver initial new store inventories). Strong logistics support for the company's stores is a critical element of its business strategy and that the company's current logistics structure will support its growth over the next several years.
Merchandise
The company's merchandising strategy emphasizes a TOE-TO-HEAD approach. The company provides a broad assortment of premium brand name footwear, apparel, accessories and team sports equipment at competitive prices in a full service omni-channel environment. The assortment of brand name merchandise the company offers consistently exceeds the merchandise selection carried by most of the company's competitors, particularly in the company's underserved communities and neighborhood centers. The company coordinates with its vendors to educate the sales staff at the store level on new products and trends.
Although the core merchandise assortment tends to be similar for each store, it is somewhat differentiated by the Hibbett or City Gear brands. Each brand utilizes important demographic, local and/or regional considerations. Accordingly, the company offers products that reflect preferences for particular demographics, as well as interests from each community. The company's knowledge of these interests, combined with access to leading brands, enables the company's merchandising staff to react quickly to emerging trends or special events, such as fashion shifts or athletic events.
The company's merchandising staff, operations staff and management analyze current trends primarily through the lens of the company's store typing strategy. Information is largely gathered and analyzed utilizing business intelligence tools. Other strategic measures the company utilizes to recognize trends or changes in the company's industry include: maintaining close relationships with vendors and other retailers; studying other retailers for best practices in merchandising; attending various trade shows, both in the company's industry and outside, as well as reviewing industry trade publications; and actively participating in industry associations.
The merchandising staff works with store personnel to meet the requirements of individual stores for appropriate merchandise in sufficient quantities.
Vendor Relationships
The athletic specialty and city specialty retail businesses are brand-name-driven. Accordingly, the company maintains positive relationships with a number of well-known vendors to satisfy customer demand. The company offers an omni-channel experience through physical locations, mobile apps and website and that the company is among the primary retail distribution avenues for brand name vendors that seek to engage with consumers in underserved communities. As a result, the company is able to attract considerable vendor interest and establish long-term partnerships with vendors. As the company's vendors expand their product lines and grow in popularity, the company expands sales of these products. In addition, as the company continues to increase its store base and enter new communities, the company's vendors increase their brand presence within these regions. The company also works with its vendors to establish attractive pricing and to receive cooperative marketing funds.
Marketing and Promotion
The company's target customer is Gen Z, therefore its marketing efforts are focused on acquiring and retaining Gen Z customers. As such, the company has invested in and expanded its digital marketing capabilities, social media presence and the company's hyperlocal marketing efforts that help the company connects with its communities.
The company's loyalty program sales grew in the year ended February 3, 2024 (Fiscal 2024), representing approximately 60% of overall sales. In Fiscal 2024, the company made improvements to the loyalty program, presenting members with new benefits and experiences, including the company's new 'Connected' partnership with Nike that launched at the end of the third quarter. In Fiscal 2025, the continuation of Hibbett Rewards X NIKE Membership will advance the ways in which the company engages and delights its customers across all omni-channel touchpoints, further solidifying the company's differentiated retail experience in underserved communities.
Seasonality
The company has historically experienced seasonal fluctuations. The company typically experiences higher net sales in early spring due to spring sports and annual tax refunds, late summer due to back-to-school shopping and winter due to holiday shopping.
History
The company was founded in 1945. It was incorporated in 2007. The company was formerly known as Hibbett Sports, Inc. and changed its name to Hibbett, Inc. in 2021.
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