Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to the Canada Goose Q4 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question- and- answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Ana Raman.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on the Canada Goose Q4 fiscal 2026 earnings call. Today, you'll hear from Dani Reiss, our Chairman and CEO; Neil Bowden, Chief Financial Officer; Carrie Baker, President of Brand and Commercial; and Beth Clymer, President and Chief Operating Officer. We'll start with prepared remarks from Dani and Neil, and then open up the call for questions. Today's presentation will contain forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions, and therefore 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. Further information regarding these assumptions, risks, and uncertainties is included in our press release issued earlier today and available on the investor relations section of our website.
We report in Canadian dollars. The amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Please note the financial results described on today's call will compare fourth quarter and fiscal 2026 results ended March 29th, 2026, with the same period ended March 30th, 2025, and stated revenue percent changes are in constant currency 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. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dani.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Fiscal 2026 was the year of focused execution across our key priorities in product, brand, and channel execution. We made deliberate investments to strengthen the foundation of the business, and the results are encouraging. Revenue grew 12% for the year and 18% in the fourth quarter. Direct-to-consumer comparable sales rose 8% for the year and 10% in Q4, our fifth straight quarter of positive comp growth driven by stronger conversion and broader customer engagement. Wholesale returned to growth, up 9% for the year with a strong finish in Q4 as demand and sell-through improved. Just as important, our evolved marketing strategy drove accelerating brand momentum through the year. By extending our core strengths of performance and craftsmanship, we're expanding how and when people wear the brand.
In fiscal 2026, we expanded our customer base through both new acquisition and stronger re-engagement, broadening relevance, increasing purchase frequency, and deepening connection and desire with our customers. We backed that momentum with the right investment and the right execution, which translated into meaningful progress across each of our operating imperatives in the fourth quarter. First, we expanded our product offering to enhance year-round relevance.
In the fourth quarter, our expanded assortment continued to resonate with customers across seasons and occasions. Demand was supported by a balanced mix of heritage outerwear, lighter weight styles, and new design expressions that broadened how and when customers wear the brand. We launched our spring/summer 2026 collection, our largest assortment to date for the season, and brought it to market earlier than in prior years, increasing visibility into our versatile offer.
This strengthened our presence through the shoulder season and supported more consistent engagement beyond peak winter. Customers are responding. Apparel led growth in Q4 and for the year, while down-filled outerwear remained the majority of our revenue and meaningful contributor to growth. That dynamic is exactly what we've been building towards. Second, we continued to build brand heat through focused marketing investments that supported revenue growth and improved brand health. We saw gains in desire and momentum with stronger performance versus key competitive benchmarks in several core markets. That brand momentum was clearly reflected in our fourth quarter performance. Marketing drove higher traffic and conversion across D2C around key product launches, supporting full price sell-through and reinforcing our luxury positioning of the brand.
At the same time, we became more efficient, using better data and measurement to focus spend on what's working and where it can build the brand over the long term. Third, we drove business expansion through strategic channel development. Our approach remains consistent. Elevate the D2C consumer experience while nurturing strategic wholesale partnerships that extend our reach, support the brand, and preserve the right level of control. In direct-to-consumer in the fourth quarter, we've improved execution through stronger merchandising, healthier inventory, and better conversion, while also tightening how we run the retail business. We are applying greater rigor to improve productivity across our network and actively reviewing the retail portfolio so that each location meets our return expectations. Our digital channel delivered strong growth in the fourth quarter.
Enhancements to product discovery, content, and personalization made it easier for customers to find what they were looking for, creating a smoother path from browsing to checkout, further supporting conversion. We continue to improve this channel and are creating a more connected online to in-store shopping experience. In wholesale, the reset we started three years ago is complete, and the channel has returned to growth. This reflects better product flow, healthier inventory, and stronger sell-through with encouraging reorders for our Fall/Winter 2025 assortment and continued momentum in to spring 2026.
Bringing spring/summer to market earlier only strengthened that demand, and we're pleased with how the channel is progressing. Our fourth imperative is operating efficiently with pace and accountability. In fiscal 2026, we strengthened the organization through targeted investments in people and technology with a clear focus on speeding up productivity and decision-making.
That progress supported growth and drove underlying operating leverage in the year. The work that we've done positions us to take the next step, converting our momentum into greater profitability in fiscal 2027. Our focus is to leverage our brand strength and operating foundation to drive sustainable growth, expand margins, and improve returns. Our priorities for this year are clear, and we're executing against them with increasing consistency.
First, we are deepening brand desire and increasingly translating that into demand through more effective marketing. Second, we're scaling a repeatable product playbook across seasons to drive greater year-round relevance. Third, we're improving channel productivity and capital efficiency to increase conversion and customer value. Fiscal 2026 marked a step change for Canada Goose, and I am very pleased with how the year has played out. We delivered against our objectives and built real momentum across the business.
I wanna thank our teams around the world for the creativity and commitment that you've all brought to executing our strategy this year. As we look ahead to fiscal 2027, we expect to deliver meaningful profit margin expansion. Canada Goose has always been a strong brand. Now at a larger scale, we're seeing that strength translate into deeper cultural relevance and commercial impact. With the investments we've made and the progress we're delivering, we have a clear path to becoming a more profitable business. With that, I will turn it over to Neil.
Thanks, Dani. Good morning, everyone. The fourth quarter was a strong finish to fiscal 2026, reflecting solid top-line growth and improved execution across the business. I'll walk through our results and how we're translating them into a more profitable profile as we move into fiscal 2027. Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 18% year-over-year to CAD 453 million, with all channels and regions growing. Full year revenue grew 12%, reaching CAD 1.5 billion for the first time. Turning to channel performance. Q4 D2C revenue increased 16% year-over-year, with growth across all regions. Comparable sales growth was 10%, led by strength in e-commerce and was complemented by store performance. Demand was supported by continued resonance of our Fall/Winter 2025 collection and early response to our Spring/Summer 2026 assortment.
For the full year, D2C comparable sales growth was 8%, reflecting more consistent execution across our product, brand, and channel initiatives. Wholesale revenue increased 52% year-over-year in the fourth quarter and 9% for the full year, reflecting the continued benefit of the channel reset toward brand-aligned partners and healthier inventory positions. In the quarter, growth was led by EMEA and Asia Pacific, supported by shipments related to our Spring/Summer 2026 order book and in-season demand for our Fall/Winter 2025 assortment. As we look ahead, our outlook for Fall/Winter 2026 wholesale order book continues to reinforce interest in newness across the assortment, which we see as a leading indicator of the improving health and momentum of the channel. Moving to regional trends. In North America, Q4 revenue increased 11% year-over-year, supported by growth in D2C.
Comparable sales declined a modest 1% as improved conversion across channels was offset by store traffic pressure, which was concentrated in a small number of high-volume, high-tourism urban locations. Underlying demand and better conversion in our e-commerce channel led to sales growth. Asia Pacific revenue increased 23% year-over-year, driven by growth across D2C and wholesale. Comparable sales grew double digits, led by Mainland China. D2C performance reflected strong traffic, improved store and online conversion, and positive response to our Lunar New Year product capsule and associated marketing campaign. Wholesale growth was primarily driven by strong travel retail demand in the region. In EMEA, revenue increased 25%, driven by wholesale growth and continued strength in D2C. D2C comparable sales growth was in the double digits, led by e-commerce.
Store performance in the quarter delivered growth, with most markets up against continued softness in the U.K. amid uneven traffic trends. We did see some softening in performance toward the end of the quarter, reflecting a more cautious consumer environment as geopolitical tensions increased, particularly impacting inbound travel-related spend and discretionary demand. Let's turn to gross profit. Fourth quarter gross profit increased 15% year-over-year, while gross margin declined 170 basis points to 69.6%. Central to our long-term strategy is expanding our year-round product relevance. In Q4, our Spring/Summer 2026 collection was delivered to our channels much earlier than last year, which supported overall growth. Channel mix, with a higher proportion of wholesale revenue and higher freight and duty costs given our regional sales mix, were further pressure points on gross margin.
For the full year, gross margin was relatively flat despite limited pricing benefit, higher freight and duties, and the deliberate push into product newness. We offset these pressures through ongoing value chain improvements and strong channel execution, particularly improved comp sales performance. It has been our longstanding track record to balance these headwinds and tailwinds across a number of years, and we are satisfied with the outcome of fiscal 2026 with a view to opportunities moving forward. Moving to our expense profile. Total SG&A expenses increased 14% year-over-year to CAD 251 million in the fourth quarter, slower than the 18% growth we experienced in revenue and delivering approximately 50 basis points of operating leverage, adjusting for the impact of the earn-out expense in the prior year, which was excluded from adjusted EBIT.
This reflects continued progress on cost discipline and improved efficiency as the business scaled. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen our store network, we recorded a CAD 8 million impairment charge this quarter related to select underperforming locations. While this was dilutive in Q4, it reflects a more rigorous approach to assessing store performance. From a channel perspective, D2C operating margin declined 230 basis points year-over-year, largely reflecting the impairment recorded in the fourth quarter. Excluding that charge, underlying D2C operating margin was consistent with Q4 in the prior year, reflecting stable underlying profitability alongside cost efficiency and labor productivity. Wholesale operating margins improved year-over-year, supported by healthier inventory positions and a more focused partner mix.
Corporate expenses increased 15% over the same prior year period, driven primarily by an increase in annual incentive compensation reflecting strong performance against our targets. Excluding this impact, underlying costs remain well controlled, demonstrating discipline in discretionary spend. Marketing costs, which are included in corporate expenses, declined 8% in Q4 versus the same period last year, another source of operating leverage. Earlier and more consistent investment throughout fiscal 2026 allowed brand momentum to carry into Q4, leading to strong sales performance despite lower spend year-over-year. Together, this resulted in adjusted EBIT increasing by CAD 5 million year-over-year to CAD 65 million in the fourth quarter, while adjusted EBIT margin declined by 120 basis points to 14.3%. We exited the year with a strong balance sheet.
Inventory of CAD 386 million remained relatively flat year-over-year, reflecting strong demand and tighter inventory management, with turns improving to 1.2x , up 20% versus last year and 33% versus two years ago. Our inventory position continues to get healthier, supported by better planning and a structured approach to managing product lifecycle in brand-appropriate ways. We are proud of our progress here and believe we can continue to improve this metric. Net debt declined to CAD 383 million from CAD 409 million a year ago, with the net debt leverage ratio remaining flat at 1.3x EBITDA. Overall, we exited fiscal 2026 with a robust top-line performance, greater operating rigor, healthier inventory, and a more efficient cost structure, strengthening the foundation of the business and positioning us to more consistently convert growth into profitability and returns.
This gives us confidence in our fiscal 2027 plan and our ability to grow revenue and expand margins through focused execution of the product, brand, and channel priorities Dani outlined. Let me now walk you through our outlook. For fiscal 2027, we expect total revenue to grow approximately low single digits year-over-year. Growth will be driven by improved conversion, pricing actions implemented in April, and more effective execution across product, marketing, and channels.
We expect growth to be led by D2C across both our stores and e-commerce channels, with wholesale also contributing, partially offset by lower other revenue, reflecting healthier inventory in our channels leading to fewer planned friends and family events. At the same time, we are planning for a more challenging macro environment, reflecting softer demand trends exiting fiscal 2026 and into April, which we expect will continue to weigh on consumer confidence and travel.
On profitability, we expect adjusted EBIT margin to be in the range of 11%-12% for fiscal 2027, reflecting 130-230 basis points of margin expansion year-over-year. This improvement is expected to be driven by strong execution across multiple levers in the business, with contributions from both gross margin and SG&A. At the gross margin level, we expect improvement driven by a favorable channel mix, pricing flow-through, and manufacturing and operational efficiencies already embedded in our inventory position. Based on what we see today, this assumes that the tariff environment in fiscal 2027 is consistent with fiscal 2026. Within SG&A, we expect to deliver operating leverage, balancing investments in our strategic channels with more efficient marketing and tight control of corporate costs.
In addition, we expect to benefit from lapping non-recurring items from fiscal 2026, including the bad debt provision related to a U.S. wholesale partner and store impairment charges taken in the fourth quarter. Our strategic channel investments in fiscal 2027 include flagship openings in key markets scheduled for fiscal 2028, with associated costs flowing through depreciation and amortization. We are also making upgrades to our logistics network in EMEA and e-commerce capabilities, with the bulk of the investment expected to be completed in the first half of the fiscal year. Both programs have clearly defined measurable returns with expected benefit this year. As a reminder, approximately three-quarters of our revenue has historically been generated in the second half of the fiscal year, while much of our fixed cost base is incurred more evenly throughout the year.
As a result, we expect modest margin pressure in the first half, followed by expansion in the back half, as revenue scales into and through our peak selling season, in line with historical trends. Taken together, our fiscal 2027 outlook reflects a balance of confidence and prudence. We remain focused on driving margin expansion and improving profitability despite a more complex operating environment. In closing, we're proud of what the entire Canada Goose team accomplished in fiscal 2026, both in the execution of our strategy and in laying the foundation for durable margin expansion beginning in fiscal 2027. We are collectively excited about our plans for this upcoming year and look forward to updating you on our progress. Now, operator, you can open up the call for questions.
We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Rick Patel with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. I wanted to better understand the assumption for guidance that demand will soften in fiscal 2027. Does this reflect trends that you're seeing early in the year? You know, is there something about the order book that gives you a little bit less confidence? Just trying to understand if it's something currently being felt or whether it's a conservative view given the volatile macro.
Morning, Rick. Thanks for your question. It's Neil. I'll start, and then, if Carrie wants to jump in on any of the demand trends, she will. I think, let's just start with, we exit Q4 with a lot of wind in our sales. Obviously, top line was very strong, across channels, across regions. You know, we're certainly feeling good about what the momentum is showing and, obviously that's not just the last three months. There's been strong momentum really here for quite a while. The things that are in our control as we turn the page into 2027 are things like pricing, which, we've implemented a pricing change now early in our fiscal year. We expect that to be a benefit.
We know what our wholesale order book looks like, as you heard, we've had some strong momentum here in the fourth quarter. That also gives us a bit of confidence looking forward. We know we're going to open a handful of new stores. Again, that's a positive. We've got lots of work left to do on D2C execution. Let's put all of the sort of positives in one box. I think where we see some level of conservatism here is not just in the early part of the fiscal year this year or in the last few weeks of the year.
It's a little bit of a broader sense that the macro environment is going to be more challenging than it was a year ago. I don't think we know how much more challenging. We wanna give ourselves a pretty wide range of outcomes. Our focus, you know, with respect to what the demand is doing the things that are within our control. As I've outlined, there are a number of them, and we feel really good about those.
Got it. Also wanted to better understand the levers that you have around SG&A, so expectations to slow the growth this year. Can you just help us understand, you know, where you see room to pull back on the investment spending? You know, does this play into your expectations for softer revenue as well, or is that just a macro point of view?
Yeah. I'll take that. This is Beth, Rick. We are really proud of what we accomplished in Q4 with regards to EBIT margin expansion. We were laser focused on delivering that expansion at both the channel and the consolidated level, on both operating margins and SG&A. Obviously, if we exclude the store impairments, we did that, and we're really proud of that. That was even with some annual costs that, you know, disproportionately hit the quarter. As we look to fiscal 2027, we expect that trend to continue for SG&A growth to remain below revenue growth, supporting that growth in operating leverage. There's really opportunity on a number of different dimensions. Obviously, you've heard us speak about the investment in store labor this year.
That investment remains incredibly important, but we can do it smarter, and we can do it in a more directed way at the store level, at the day part level to really ensure that we're driving optimal labor productivity while still driving that great comp growth momentum. Similarly, marketing. We made a tremendous amount of progress on kinda driving brand heat and energy this year with that marketing. A lot of top-of-funnel investment. That is going to continue, but we can do it smarter. There were some investments made last year that don't need to recur, but the momentum is still there. We don't view that pullback of investment as something that should at all hamper our ability to drive great comp growth. It's just a matter of focusing more on the ROI and the precision of those investments to drive margin expansion.
Lastly, obviously, we have now for two years in a row delivered really solid operating leverage on our controllable overhead investments. That will continue. We were able to do that this year while simultaneously making important investments in teams like product creation that are pivotal to driving the product evolution you've seen. We'll continue those investments in a judicious way, but continue driving the control in the rest of the cost bar to drive controllable overhead leverage. Overall, we feel we've got a number of really strong levers available to help drive against the margin expansion goals you heard Dani and Neil speak about.
Thanks very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowen. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you, Dani and Neil. As we think about the guidance for revenue growth, what are your thoughts in terms of North America relative to Asia and the trends that you're seeing, relative to how you're guiding and what we should expect, given that there's different footprints and different traffic and conversion considerations? Then Dani, as you mentioned, repeatable product, would love your thoughts on that relative to all the momentum you're seeing with new and apparel and the latest in terms of the customers you're obtaining from the newer lifestyle product as well.
Third and final, on marketing, how should we think about marketing as a percentage of sales or the dollar amount or anything we should know, on potential shifts or what you're anniversarying, as we look ahead to next year? The demand creation is important, and I'm sure you're balancing the marketing spend relative to revenue growth. Thank you.
Well, Oliver, thanks for your questions. I'll start with the guide question and then we'll rotate on the other answers. In terms of the market health and sort of what we're seeing today, both through the fourth quarter and where we exit the year, we're expecting to have growth in all markets and in all channels. We feel like we've got the right with the right mix. I mean, certainly, the fourth quarter results in both Europe and Asia were stronger than they were in North America, as you heard, but we did see growth in each of those regions.
We're focused a little bit on the impact of what's going on in the Middle East, in Europe in particular, where there's been much less inbound traffic. That's a market where we have historically had good levels of inbound traffic and luxury purchasing from places outside of Europe. That's an area where store traffic remains under pressure and, you know, we've got the ability to compensate for that with really healthy e-commerce channel. I think the North American traffic trends are fine. Probably like to see those a little bit healthier. As we enter fiscal 2027, you know, some of the caution there is really about, you know, is the traffic in the store, how much of the traffic in the store can we maintain?
You know, to the extent that that's pressured, can we offset that with the conversion improvements that we've seen now over the last 18 months? Asia, generally speaking, remains pretty healthy. You know, I guess we'd say, you know, as we said a few minutes ago, a lot of tools in the toolkit here to drive revenue, but we're monitoring sort of the macro environment and the health of consumer in each of those markets and reacting accordingly.
Yeah. Thanks, Neil, and thanks, Oliver. Talking about product, we've really invested a lot into our product creation, product development engine and over the past two years, I'm really happy with where we are at the current moment. We are in a place where we are able to create beautiful and desirable products at the right margin and at the right price point for our consumers. When we're able to do that, consumers, our consumers will always be wanting to buy best products from us. It continues to drive our customers into our stores and online across all seasons, our product and all categories.
Where these days our fastest-growing category is apparel and spring categories and spring products and new apparel products are going performing extremely well, and we're very happy about that, and we're gonna continue to grow into those categories. While at the same time, we continue to hold our strength in our core outdoor products. Overall, our product complexion is strong. It's getting better and I'm very, very confident in the trajectory that we're on with regards to our product progression.
I'll pick up on the product, Oliver up here. The newness that Dani's talking about, I think when you walk into our stores or when you go visit us online, it's a very different feel. There's energy, there's different color palettes. That is obviously a direct influence of Haider. Looking at, you know, Spring/Summer 2026 was his first mainline collection that he over saw. When you look at the results in Q4, that newness isn't just about great product or driving incremental sales. It's also about giving us more stories to connect with our consumer with. When you've got great products, then you see the marketing. The marketing just works so much better. Your question around, you know, how do we think about that as a percentage of sales this year?
It's going to be lower. You already saw that in Q4, and it's continuing to drive momentum from a brand perspective, from a traffic perspective, from a conversion perspective. Great product, then you have the great marketing. We've got to tell amazing new stories to people, and it's working. That momentum continues. Of course, our goal, and we heard Beth talk about this, is about efficiency, right?
We tried a lot of things. We had some investments last year that we don't need to repeat, whether that's, you know, reshooting our catalog. As we test new channels, as we test new things, we wanna be able to make sure that we're measuring it. Different tools, there's a more rigorous focus on what that return is from that marketing activity. Even though it's a lower percentage of sales, it doesn't mean we're stepping back at all from that momentum that we've already built.
Thank you very much, and great job on the new product. Best regards.
Thanks, Oliver.
Your next question comes from the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hey, everyone. I think, Neil, two questions from me. On the DTC outlook you guys have, what's embedded on store growth? What's your underlying comp assumption, at least on an annual basis? Could you give us a little bit more variables into what underpins that?
Yeah, I think on both of those, like, there's, I think both positivity embedded in the, in the outlook, but we haven't given real precision on either comp growth. We expect it that the momentum that we've had now five quarters, sets the standard that we expect to have positive comp growth. That's the goal for us. And then on new stores, we've got a range of outcomes here. I think in the last 12 months, we were something like high single digits, and we would expect to be sort of not that far removed from that, but we're gonna continue to evaluate opportunities as the year goes. Without getting too precise, you know, that will give you a little bit of flavor for those two inputs.
Just, you know, trying to make sure the street numbers kind of align to what you're thinking, as best we can. Understanding the revenue mix you kind of gave, which makes sense seasonally, can you help us out a little bit more with the earnings? I know you said some deleverage in the first half versus leverage in the back half, can you go beyond that?
I mean, if you look at the margin guide for the year, I think that's like CAD 175 million-CAD 185 million of EBIT. Could you maybe say how much of a loss you're expecting in the first half versus a gain in the back half? Just something to help us get the models tight again. I feel like you guys have come out the last couple of quarters and had really good revenue, and then you're off versus the street on the bottom line. I'm just trying to help that scenario, you know, kind of come to an end.
Yeah. I certainly appreciate where you're trying to go. I think, you know, our objective here is to provide clarity over the year, and we, you know, we feel like we've got a really good plan over the next 12 months and obviously now 11 months. The seasonality of the business has not changed that much. We're still highly dependent on executing from sort of the September through February timeframe, which, you know, mostly shadows the third and fourth quarter. As you know, that's where all of the profit comes over that period of time.
We will, you know, we will run a loss for the first half of the year, as we have historically, and then, you know, drive towards expansion or drive towards profitability in the second half and ultimately margin expansion. Without giving too much color on the kind of quarterly splits, you know, our focus is really on how do we deliver the year.
Okay. Thanks.
Your next question comes from the line of Michael Binetti with Evercore ISI. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking our question here. I wanna just double-click on that a little bit. I'm a little confused with low single digit revenue growth in total with pricing in place, store growth and expected same store sales growth and wholesale expected to be positive. It feels like there's a take that we're missing there to get to low single digit growth. If you could just help me round out what I might be missing there. Then would you mind just helping us think through SG&A? I can hear the focus on this call, last year, I think that we started guiding it to single digit growth. It actualized at 19. Can you just help us break down, I know you mentioned two one-time items, the bad debt and the impairment.
How that evolved through the year, excluding those items and where, you know, the composition of the SG&A growth through the year and where the delta was, please? We didn't have the revenue guidance last year to go on, so it's very hard to tell how much of that SG&A moves higher on variable costs tied to sales that might have been ahead of your plan versus, you know, 'cause since we didn't have a sales guide last year.
Sure. I'll help with the math on the first part of the question, Michael, and then Beth can pick up some of the SG&A profiling over the last 12 months. I think there's an element that's not yet talked about, which is we're expecting to have lower sales in the other channel than we did a year ago. That will certainly result in some reduction of revenue in that area, which will reduce the benefits that we were talking about in the other areas. I, you know, I think we're also, as we're saying here, like, we have a degree of uncertainty.
While our plans are to drive against all of those positives, wholesale order book, growth, same store sales, pricing, etc, we know that for sure we're gonna be facing into, or we are facing into a tougher environment, and we wanna make sure that we respect what that might bring. You know, obviously, if that assumption isn't correct, then we'll update as we go.
Michael, on your question on the SG&A profile and margin profile in the full year, if you step back, there's really three categories. Driving core structural margin expansion. Second, making intentional investments to really cement that comp growth flywheel. Then third, some one-timers. Maybe I'll go kind of in reverse order. The one-timers, as you talked about, were really two-fold.
The wholesale bad debt expense that we took in Q3 and the impairment in Q4, those were CAD 16 million and CAD 8 million respectively. About 150 basis points of margin pressure from those two one-timers. Those are non-recurring. We will get the tailwind from the back in the back half of next year. Pretty straightforward. The intentional investments were really focused on three things: marketing, store labor, and product creation.
You know, those, you know, show up in different places, some of the channel P&Ls and the consolidated P&Ls. We made, we planned to make at the beginning of the year, and while we didn't guide, we obviously communicated the intention to invest in those. That was critically important to really get the conversion engine in the store that we had seen excellent green shoots on in the back half of the prior year, to get that really consistently executing day in, day out. We've got that going now, next year we can shift the store labor focus to be a bit more about productivity. Still keep that conversion engine going, still use it to drive comp growth, all that, but can do it a bit more efficiently. Similarly, marketing, we've obviously touched on already, same idea.
Critical investments really help fuel brand heat, really help tell the product story, the brand story. The same will continue next year, just in a slightly more efficient way. The product creation investments, those have already started to kind of stabilize and get some leverage as the product flywheel that you heard Dani describe has taken root, and you see that show up in the pricing power we believe we have this year. For example, that we can fund some of those investments through the gross margin expansion. Those were intentional investments. They continue to remain important areas of spending for us, but we'll just be much more efficient next year, and we believe can be more efficient without a corresponding kind of decline in the top line.
When you back all that out, which we appreciate we haven't given you exactly a quantification to back all that out, there is core fundamental structural margin expansion happening underneath there. That's what excites us about the margin potential for fiscal 2027 and beyond, is continuing the structural margin expansion, get greater efficiency out of those intentional investments, get rid of those one-timers that added some noise and some pressure. All that can add together to a nice margin expansion profile for next year and hopefully for many years beyond.
Okay. Thanks a lot for all the detail.
Your next question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS.
Great. Thank you so much. Just to follow up a little bit on those thoughts. You know, the company's continued to focus on retail productivity. Can you just talk a little bit about what you plan on doing this year to drive further productivity? I mean, how you feel like the store teams performed this year relative to what you expected? A little detail there would be super helpful and any sort of financial implication of that. Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks for the question, Jay. It's Carrie. We're very proud, as we've talked about before, of what the teams in store have been able to do in terms of conversion. Again, it's a lot of things working, right. Great product, making sure it's in the right places at the right times. You know, there's a lot of focus from shoppers on buy now, wear now. Us being able to pull up spring in Q4, having a dedicated Lunar New Year capsule at APAC that worked really well. There was lots of reasons for people to be shopping and ability for our teams to convert. The focus on conversion is not gonna change, right. Saw the results of that in Q4. We saw it all year driving that comp.
What Beth's just talked about is that labor agility, you know, getting that dialed perfectly. It's, you know, perfect may be, you know, a lofty goal, but we're gonna try as hard as we can to make sure that we're meeting the traffic when the or meeting the labor when the traffic is there and just being more flexible. I think one of the things that we have learned over the last year is the flexibility. How do we build that into the system? How do we look ahead a little bit more rigorously? How do we, you know, plan scenarios a little bit more, a little more in advance so that we can switch that dial as we need to? The other part of that is more training.
We invested a ton from our retail team in terms of product training, experience training. Again, for us, it's when you walk into a store, we don't want people to just feel like it's a transactional business. It is an experiential brand. We want people to feel that Canadian warmth, that distinctly Canada Goose offering. Of course, we wanna drive revenue, but we also want it to be an amazing experience so that people come back again and again. That is what we're seeing, right? We talked about the investment in marketing, driving not only new customers, but repeat customers. All of those things working together, we have to continue doing that with a just a greater focus on efficiency and productivity.
I think from a financial perspective, the connection's pretty tight. I mean, at the top line, you can see, you know, over the year, high single digits of comp store growth or rather of DTC comp growth. That's translated directly into the productivity per square foot. You know, we've always said CAD 4,000 a square foot is kinda where we need to be. We're over that hurdle this year after a few years sort of trending a little bit below that.
That translation is obviously meaningful. You know, we've spent time over the last 12 months talking about how we balance the labor investment against the conversion outcomes. Carrie just touched on it, an area where we're gonna continue to monitor the dials. You know, we know that the connection between those two is tight, and having that conversion lift, which leads to the productivity and comp sales, has been a really powerful unlock for us over here over the last several months.
Got it. Okay. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Michael.
Your next question comes from the line of Jonathan Komp with Baird. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. This is Alex Conway on for John. I just first wanted to follow up on something you said, Carrie, about not needing to repeat some of the marketing investments you made last year, this year. I'm just curious, like, when you look at what worked and what didn't over the past year, what'd you kinda find, and what investments are you kinda carrying forward into this year, and what are the ones that you don't really need to re-repeat?
Yeah, great question. It's more fundamental. You know, when we have a new look and feel, you're gonna reshoot the way we look online. It's just making sure that what we're showing represents the brand and the evolution and the elevation of our brand so that, you know, we reshot a lot of our iconic catalog in a different way, and so that's, you know, something that doesn't need to be repeated.
What does need to be repeated, we talked about, is our strategy hasn't changed. We are still investing in upper funnel, right? We have a brand, investing in that brand, making sure it reaches the right people at the right time in any number of channels. We test it a lot and just test it in different ways. That needs to repeat. We will continue to do that.
The focus, as I said before, is just about making sure we're measuring it different ways, making sure we're seeing that ROAS. We already are starting to see that. We just need to make sure that every CAD 1 we spend has a really strong ROI, whether that's in brand heat, building desire, taking market share, and/or converting. Ideally, both. Not a massive change in strategy. I don't want you to walk away thinking we're doing something differently. It's just more rigorous focus on the delivery of where we spend.
Great. Thank you for the, for the color there. I don't think you provided a store opening guidance, just any color there on amount, timing, like where you're looking across regions the most? Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks, Alex. We've not provided any precision around how many stores we plan to open, when or where, aside from, you know, we think that balancing comps against, as we've said a lot, the comp performance against the, where the store investments are, and how many of them we can accommodate is kind of a critical balance. We're gonna continue to use that as a guiding principle for store investments. We will open stores this year and we expect that they will be positive contributors, certainly to our top line, but we'll just have to update you as we go on when and where.
Your next question comes from the line of Angus Kelleher-Ferguson with Barclays.
Hi, this is Angus Kelleher on for Adrienne Yih. Thanks for taking our question. On the earlier wholesale shipments, can you help quantify how much of the full year guide is impacted by timing related pull forward? How much of the spring/summer pull forward was better underlying demand, particularly in non-down and apparel categories? I have a follow-up.
Sure. Thanks for the question, Angus. It's a good point to clarify. We would not consider any of this to be a pull forward. This was very much by design. We have product ready for spring now earlier, and that shipped earlier. The size of that order book is larger than it was a year ago, reflecting, as Dani talked a lot about, the newness, the relative acceptance by our consumer or our wholesale customers of a product, the excitement that comes with that.
They're wanting to have Canada Goose in their stores in greater depth at more times of the year. We do not anticipate that the fiscal 2027 guide is impacted whatsoever by that. We know how much of the order book was expected to be delivered in Q4 and how much was delivered and what we expect to see in our first quarter and through the balance of spring. Just to be really clear about that.
On the product category.
Great.
Really, I mean, wholesale in general.
Sorry.
I'll just give you a little more color on the product categories. It's really, they're responding in the same way that consumers are responding to the expansion, right? The relevance of a buy now, wear now consumer expanding, while not diluting our core, but expanding into, you know, more seasonal opportunities for people to put us in their closet or wear us in a different season is really working. Wholesale partners have seen that change as well.
We're getting some very strong feedback from them on apparel, whether it's lighter weight categories of outerwear, whether it's, you know, everyday, whether it's, you know, T-shirts and fleece. There really is strong demand. In addition, not just from a category perspective, but again, this whole evolution of brighter colors, more energy, more enthusiasm. They're seeing that elevation come through, and the demand for that product is great. We're very happy with, you know, how that order book is shaping up. It's, it's in line with where we're growing as a business.
Great. Thank you. Then just on input costs, can you provide more color on what input costs are changing, including any freight surcharges you're seeing currently and what you have embedded in the fiscal 2027 cost structure regarding increases in freight and broader input costs? Also just to say thank you for providing guidance.
You're welcome. On input costs, obviously, there is a lot of uncertainty right now on how ongoing geopolitical conflicts will impact really two things, freight charges and freight availability, as well as raw materials and costs. We have petroleum exposure in some of our fabrics, for example. We are continually monitoring that with our supply base and having incorporated an assumption of some pressure on that into the guide. That said, we have a tremendous amount of execution opportunity across all of the cost elements that hit COGS. We are driving significant, you know, manufacturing, productivity improvement year-over-year, significant sourcing improvements.
The investments we've been making in product creation include investments in kind of how we manufacture and how we source, and we believe there is productivity that can be driven in those that hopefully we can use to help offset any structural kind of macro pressure on some of those input costs. Some of those we have a lot of confidence in because we're already seeing them show up in our cash product creation costs, but they're just not yet, you know, hitting the P&L due to the nature of how we capitalize inventory. Lots of execution levers we can and are pulling, but albeit in an uncertain macro environment with regards to input costs and freight.
Great. Thank you. Best of luck.
Thanks, Angus.
There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Ana Raman, VP of Investor Relations, for closing remarks.
Thanks everyone for joining the call and for all your questions. We look forward to connecting with you in the coming weeks.
This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.