Good morning and thank you for calling the Ralph Lauren Second Quarter Fiscal 2013 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. All lines will be in a listen only function during the presentation today.
At the
end of the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. Now for opening remarks and introductions, I will turn the conference over to Mr. James Hurley. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us on Ralph Lauren's Q2 fiscal 2013 conference call. The agenda for this morning's call includes Roger Farah, our President and Chief Operating Officer, who will give you an overview of the quarter and comment on our broader strategic initiatives Jackie Nemerov, our Executive Vice President, will provide some merchandising highlights and Chris Peterson, our Chief Financial Officer, will provide operational and financial details for the Q2 in addition to reviewing our expectations for fiscal 2013. After that, we'll open the call up to your questions, which we ask that you please limit to 1 per caller. During today's call, we'll be making some forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including our financial outlook. Forward looking statements are not guarantees, and our actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward looking statements.
Our expectations contain many risks and uncertainties. The principal risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from our current expectations are detailed in our SEC filings. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Roger.
Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. I hope that those of you who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy over the past few days that threw the storm safe and sound. As much as we wanted to report our 2nd quarter and first half results, the safety of our employees was our first priority and that required that we delayed the release until today. As many of you have had a chance to see the results that we reported this morning continue to showcase the tremendous resilience of our operating model in the context of the sustained macro headwinds. Revenues of $1,900,000,000 in the 2nd quarter were modestly below the prior year, primarily due to strategic changes we decided to make in our business, including the store closures associated with our Greater China network repositioning efforts and the discontinuation of American Living.
If we exclude the impact of those decisions in addition to the unfavorable foreign exchange effects, revenues increased approximately 3%. It's also important to recognize that the basis of comparison were pretty formidable. We achieved double digit revenue growth in each of the preceding 2 year periods. Operating margins expanded 30 basis points to 18.7 percent in the quarter, reflecting strong improvements at both our wholesale and retail segments. The improved margin structure of our business was primarily a result of a recovery in gross profit margin that was achieved by the combination of lower input costs, thoughtful pricing strategies and operational discipline.
While Q2 operating expenses were higher than the prior year, we were able to manage this through our sustained efforts of operational excellence on a global basis. As you will recall, we originally characterized fiscal 2013 as the tale of 2 halves with operating margin pressure in the first half of the year followed by operating margin expansion in the second half. And while our year to date operating margin performance has been better than we anticipated, expanding modestly, we continue to expect stronger growth in the second half of the year. Since I know many of you are interested in business trends by region, I'd like to highlight some of our key observations. I would characterize the operating environment as mostly resilient in the Americas, where we continue to bolster our leadership position in our core men's, women's and children merchandise categories and where we have successfully partnered with our key customers to secure incremental distribution for emerging categories particularly handbags, footwear, dresses and denim and supply.
In Europe, while our most recent experiences suggest that the trends are stabilizing, it's too soon to become more constructive with our near term outlook in that region. The southern countries continue to be more challenging than the northern market. We continue to plan our businesses across all channels responsibly and we will look to chase demand as it materializes. Over the long term, we believe that there is substantial growth of the Ralph Lauren brand throughout Europe, particularly as we focus on our direct to consumer development with new stores and e commerce growth in the region. In Asia, the operating environment has been softer than we planned for.
Customer traffic to Japanese and South Korean department stores, which is where most of our distribution is currently concentrated, is tracking below the prior year levels. We attribute the drop in traffic to the broader economic malaise that is weighing on consumers and business sentiment throughout the region. Performance at our freestanding stores in Asia is holding up better than our department store location and we believe those standalone stores will become even stronger as we expand the Ralph Lauren store presence throughout the region. We continue to make excellent progress resetting our Asia presence by upgrading shop locations and merchandising assortments to better align with our global positioning. We opened 7 stores in the region and launched e commerce in Japan during the Q2.
We plan to open an additional 14 stores there in the back half of the year. As many of you know, extending our direct to customer reach is one of our core strategic growth objectives. I think the real progress we've made with our retail operations over the last 5 years is a testament to the ability to continue to raise the bar and establish new levels of excellence and criteria for success. We've grown our retail mix to 51% of our consolidated sales in the first half of fiscal 2013 from 39% at the end of fiscal 2008. And our retail segment operating profitability has expanded to 19% from 11 in the same time period.
This progress is a result of the consistent investment along many dimensions, including capital for our new stores, concession shops, enhanced distribution and logistics capability and from launching e commerce sites and for technology to enhance our in store experience. As you saw in this morning's press release, we've made the tough decision to close the As a result, we'll be closing all 14 stores and rugby.com by the end of fiscal 2013. This was not an easy decision to make considering the hard work of the Rugby team over the few years and the tremendous loyalty of the rugby core customers. We continue to believe that we can service the Millennium rugby customer with brands such as Denim and Supply and Club Monaco. And we have the opportunity to drive better returns in our vertical retail concepts by focusing our efforts on brands that have a proven global footprint.
Our year to date results demonstrate that we are driving improved profitability by focusing our capital and managerial resources on the most compelling long term opportunities. But the external factors we are contending with and managing day to day are real. The macroeconomic environment is mixed at best characterized by slowing trends in Asia, modest growth in the United States and continued uncertainty in Europe. We expect these conditions to persist for the balance of the year. Notwithstanding the current environment, we are excited about what we believe we can achieve over the next several years.
And as Ralph said in this morning's press release, our vision and purpose are clear and we have the financial strength and the operational excellence to deliver on a global basis. Before I turn the call over to Jackie, I just want to express how delighted we are to welcome Chris Peterson, our new CFO to our organization and today's call. As many of you are aware, Chris joined us after a rich 20 year tenure at Procter and Gamble in various and operational roles. We believe his wide ranging world class skill set will be an excellent addition to our leadership team and I know you all will enjoy meeting him soon and working with him in the future. Jackie?
Thank you, Roger, and good morning, everyone. In the fall season, we strengthened our leadership position in our core men's, women's, and children's merchandise categories and also continued the strong momentum of in our core men's, women's and children's merchandise categories and also continued the strong momentum of our newer dress and accessory businesses. As you know, the fall season is especially associated with the aesthetic and sensibility of the Ralph Lauren brand. Given the tremendous success of color in the spring and summer season, we incorporated brights into the classic autumn palette, which translated beautifully on the selling floor. Updated silhouettes and strong prints and patterns brought newness and novelty to our apparel and accessory offerings and the consumer responded favorably.
And of course fall coincides with the critical back to school selling season where our core programs for boys and girls and our new denim fits and washes for Ralph Lauren Denim and Supply also contributed to our success. What I think is most impressive about the strong momentum in our core business is that it was achieved on top of already robust increases over the last 2 years. As you've heard me say before, our leadership and market position start with the quality of our products, beginning with unrivaled design capabilities realized through the highest quality sourcing and manufacturing and showcased for the consumer with the most compelling merchandising initiatives and exceptional in store and online presentations. This seamless collaboration and execution across all disciplines and departments also contributes to our gross margin performance. As you saw in this morning's press release, we experienced a very strong increase in our gross profit margin during the Q2.
Most of the increase was achieved as a result of lower cost of goods, primarily a decline in the price of cotton, but strategic and operational elements also contributed to the improvement. More upfront and coordinated efforts between our design and sourcing teams allowed us to achieve more favorable lead times and costing to produce and ship our merchandise. We also saw improvements in supply chain where we more effectively leveraged our distribution centers to provide a higher level of customer service to our retail partners, while simultaneously reducing costs. With more direct control of our worldwide distribution, we believe we have the opportunity over the long term to establish larger and more global merchandising initiatives that not only support the incremental gross margin expansion, but also deliver a cohesive and impactful brand message to the consumer. Additionally, to support the growth of our handbag and footwear businesses, we have strengthened our in house capabilities in Europe and Asia to more efficiently and effectively develop prototypes and samples.
We believe this investment will continue to fuel our innovation in these high growth categories and it certainly reflects our commitment to building a powerful accessories business. Seamless execution has always been a core strength of the Ralph Lauren organization and the excellent work of these teams continue to leverage our world class best practices and help to support our profit expansion. We expect additional gross profit margin improvement in the second half of fiscal twenty thirteen as a result of lower raw material costs, more ready availability of production capacity and ongoing improvements to our global supply chain and logistics processes. As we begin the holiday season, you all know there is no better gift to give or receive than the gift of Ralph Lauren. The power, equity and aspirational nature of our brand make the holiday selling period historically strong one for us, but we never rest on our laurels.
This year, we leveraged the appeal of the brand and the breadth and depth of our product offering across our men's, women's, children's, accessories and home lines to ensure that we stand tall among the many choices before the consumer. With our strategic partners, we continue the successful approach of a focused holiday merchandising story built upon distinctive creative capabilities that our company holds. Our products and marketing messages will be strong and clear across all consumer touch points in store and online. And this approach so long associated with the Ralph Lauren brand has also been extended to the Chaps brand where we expect it will resonate just as well. Across all families of business, we are well prepared for a powerful selling season.
And now I'd like to turn the call over to Chris.
Thank you, Jackie, and good morning, everyone. The pleasure to be speaking with you this morning on my first earnings call as the company's CFO, and I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months. As you've seen in this morning's press release, consolidated net revenues were $1,900,000,000 in the 2nd quarter, 2% below the prior year period and better than the mid single digit decrease we anticipated back in August. The decline in net revenues primarily reflects a planned contraction in wholesale shipments that was offset by continued retail segment expansion. Excluding the impact of strategic decisions to discontinue American Living, store closures associated with the company's Greater China repositioning efforts and the net negative impact of foreign currency translation, revenues increased 3% in the 2nd quarter.
Gross profit margin of 58.8 percent was 220 basis points greater than the prior year, which was slightly better than our expectations. The improvement in gross profit margin is attributable to lower input cost, higher retail segment penetration and operational discipline. Operating expenses of $747,000,000 were 3% greater than the prior year period, driven by continued investment in our growth initiatives, higher retail channel mix and increased advertising and marketing expenses. Operating expense rate of 40.1 percent was 190 basis points greater than the prior year, but was better than our initial expectations for the quarter, primarily due to the operational discipline of the organization. Operating income of $348,000,000 was 1% below the prior year period.
Operating margin improved 30 basis points to 18.7%, a function of the gross profit and operating expense dynamics I discussed previously. The lower than expected operating expense rate accounted for most of the upside to the operating margin outlook we provided in August. Net income for the Q2 was $214,000,000 8% below the prior year period and net income per diluted share declined 7% to $2.29 The lower net income and net income per diluted share were primarily a result of a higher effective tax rate of 38%. The nearly 500 basis point increase in the 2nd quarter's effective tax rate is attributable to the net negative impact of an approximate $15,000,000 one time discrete tax item in the quarter. Regarding our segment highlights for the quarter, wholesale segment sales of $915,000,000 were 8% below the prior year period as a proactive reduction in shipments to certain European specialty stores and the net negative impact of foreign currency translation more than offset continued growth in core and emerging merchandise categories in the Americas.
Comparisons with the prior year were also challenged by the discontinuation of American Living in fiscal 2013 and the global launch of denim and supply in the prior year period. Wholesale operating income of $233,000,000 in the second quarter was 4 percent below the prior year. Wholesale operating margin increased 120 basis points to 25.5%. The improvement in wholesale operating margin was primarily due to higher gross profit margins as a result of lower input cost and overall operational discipline. Moving on to the Retail segment.
2nd quarter sales rose 5% to $901,000,000 supported by a 3% increase in comparable store sales on a reported basis and 5% in constant currency as well as the contribution from new stores and e commerce operations. Sales trends were strongest online and at factory stores worldwide and growth was partially offset by store closures associated with our Greater China network repositioning efforts. Our 5% constant currency comp growth in the 2nd quarter was achieved on top of challenging multiyear comparisons. Despite lackluster global traffic trends, particularly in the world's gateway cities, comp growth was primarily achieved as a function of stronger conversion, which is a direct reflection of our world class customer service and clienteling efforts. Retail segment operating income grew 8% to $157,000,000 in the 2nd quarter and the retail operating margin increased 60 basis points to 17.4%.
The improvement in retail operating income and the expansion in operating margin are primarily due to comparable store sales growth and disciplined operational management that more than offset continued investment in global e commerce and the impact from our Greater China network repositioning efforts. Licensing revenue were $47,000,000 in the 2nd quarter, 3% below the prior year due to the discontinuation of certain American Living and South American licensing arrangements. As a result of lower licensing revenues, operating income for the licensing segment declined 2% to $35,000,000 Consolidated inventory was up 7% at the end of the quarter on a reported basis and we spent approximately $55,000,000 on capital expenditures to support new retail stores, shop installations and infrastructure investments. We ended the quarter with approximately $1,100,000,000 in cash and investments and $832,000,000 in net cash. In the fiscal year to date period, we have returned approximately $355,000,000 to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividend payments.
We are pleased with our 2nd quarter results and first quarter and first half results, which demonstrate the strong operational discipline of the organization in the context of challenging market conditions. As Roger mentioned earlier, while we exceeded our sales and profit expectations for the first half of the year, we continue to expect fiscal 2013 to play out as a tale of 2 halves, with the second half characterized by stronger year over year results. While it is too early to determine the full impact from Hurricane Sandy, we have tried to make reasonable assumptions based on what we know today. We know that when the storm first hit on Monday, 81 stores representing about 20% of our directly operated store network were closed. We also saw some disruption to the e commerce business as many customers were without electricity.
Reopenings have been staggered throughout the week depending on safety conditions and the availability of electricity. Approximately a dozen stores remain closed as of this morning. I do want to acknowledge the tremendous achievements of our various corporate and retail store organizations, whose heroic efforts in the face of such adversity has enabled us to chart a course to recovery relatively quickly. At this point, we know we've lost a modest amount of revenues for the Q3, but there is still some uncertainty with respect to the lingering impact the hurricane might have on future sales trends. With that as backdrop, I'd like to review the financial outlook we provided in this morning's press release.
For the Q3, we currently expect consolidated net revenues to increase by a low single digit percentage. Our expectation is based on a mid single digit increase in retail segment sales that is partially offset by a low single digit decline in global wholesale sales. Included in our consolidated net revenue growth outlook for the quarter is an approximate 400 basis point net negative impact due to strategic decisions regarding certain operations, including store closures associated with the company's Greater China network repositioning efforts, the discontinuation of American Living and unfavorable foreign currency effects. Operating margin for the Q3 is expected to be approximately 25 basis points to 75 basis points greater than the prior year period. The anticipated improvement in operating margin is primarily attributable to gross margin improvement that is partially offset by continued investment in the company's long term strategic initiatives and higher retail channel mix.
We expect the 3rd quarter tax rate to be approximately 29% due to the recent favorable resolution of a discrete tax item. For the full year fiscal 2013 period, we currently expect revenues to increase by 2% to 3%, which compares to our prior expectation of mid single digit growth and includes an approximately 400 basis point to 500 basis point net negative impact associated with strategic decisions regarding certain operations, including store closures associated with the company's Greater China network repositioning efforts, the discontinuation of American Living and unfavorable foreign currency effects. The moderation in our full year revenue outlook is primarily a result of weaker than anticipated store trends throughout Asia in addition to sustained weakness in tourist travel to major gateway cities in the U. S. And Europe.
The full year operating margin is expected to be approximately 50 basis points greater than last year, which is an improvement relative to our prior expectation of only a modest increase from the prior year's level. We anticipate an improvement in gross profit margin to be partially offset by a higher operating expense margin due to continued investment in the company's long term strategic initiatives and higher retail channel mix. We continue estimate the full year tax rate at approximately 33%. The Q3 and full year fiscal 2013 expectations that I just outlined do not include the estimated $20,000,000 to 30,000,000 dollars in one time pre tax charges associated with the discontinuation of rugby operations in the back half of the year, when we will close the 14 existing stores and the e commerce website. We expect to incur approximately 75% of the charges in the Q3 with the remainder booked in the fiscal Q4.
As Roger alluded to earlier, we remain committed to reinvesting in the business in order to fund the growth initiatives that have supported the company's strong financial results over the last several years. The ability to balance support for long term growth initiatives with the strong execution of day to day core operations has been a critical part of the company's success over the past several years and has also been an important driver of substantial shareholder value creation. At this point, we'd like to open up the call and take any questions you may have. Operator, can you assist us?
Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll go first to Omar Saad from ISI Group.
Thank you. Good morning. Roger and Jackie too I think, would you guys mind addressing this idea that we're in this globally we might be in this consumers might be in this kind of accessories boom. As we think about the accessories business versus the apparel business, Obviously Ralph Lauren is still primarily an apparel driven company. But especially on the women's side, do you see that happening in your consumer base, this kind of shift away from apparel or to maybe lower priced apparel in terms of the wallet spending towards more investment in accessories and footwear and things like that?
And is that do you think that's having an impact in your business? How do you see that going forward? Do you think it's cyclical or structural? And your efforts around the accessories business as well, how important does that become if that's really what's happening?
Okay, Omar. I'll start and then I'll let Jackie continue. I think it's pretty common knowledge that the concept of accessories broadly defined has been an important growth category think the accessory category has clearly outperformed. I think the accessory category has clearly outperformed apparel and specifically women's apparel for a while now. I think in defining accessories, you've got to open it up to a range of products that include handbags, small leather goods.
But clearly footwear has been a strong category for the last couple of years, watches, eyewear and even more broadly, I think cosmetics. So with that, I think a female customer can express herself fresh in her wardrobe and accessories has fulfilled that. Interestingly enough, it's not dissimilar to the way Europe evolved over time, where a customer was more willing to buy a handful of high quality investment pieces in apparel and then used accessories to keep them fresh. I think the other part of accessories that you all understand is that for emerging markets with new wealth accessories and particularly signature accessories are a way of people showing their success and they're arriving more easily than apparel. So whether that's been the Middle East, whether that's been Russia, whether that's now Asia, specifically China, I think the customer who's finding wealth is expressing themselves through either signature or easily identifiable high end product.
The mix of our business at Ralph Lauren, I think uniquely includes all product categories. So we're seeing business from that customer in apparel be it men's or women's or even the extraordinary success of our kids business, because I think customers as they acquire spending capabilities are spending it on their children, particularly in countries that have limited birth rates. So interestingly enough, you have parents and grandparents all focused on one child that tends to drive up their willingness to spend on apparel as well. I think our accessory businesses are in early stages. We've taken back many of the key licenses over the last 5 or 6 years.
We've developed sourcing capabilities. We think the Ralph Lauren aesthetic translates beautifully into accessories. And where we have partnerships or licensing relationships with Luxottica or partnerships with Richmond or L'Oreal, I think we're with world class best in class partners. So I'm very pleased with where we stand and where we're going. One of the interesting realities of our results to date, both extraordinary margin in wholesale and the extraordinary margin we now operate in retail is without high penetrations of accessories, which properly executed brings with it higher profit margins.
So I think we're making good progress. I think we're making quality progress. I don't think we're looking to jam this business artificially in the early stages. And my guess is over the long term, it's going to be a very big part of what we do and that will be more prevalent in Asia and some of the emerging markets than perhaps some of the more mature markets. But I don't want to back off the apparel business.
I think we're very pleased with the way we've got our market share and our positioning in all of the key apparel categories. Long answer, but it was a long question on Marceau.
Next question?
We'll go next to Michael Binetti from UBS.
Hey, guys. Good morning and congrats on a great quarter. Thank you, Michael.
Just one modeling question and then I'll have a follow-up. Just the I think I thought you said last quarter that the 3 items that you mentioned as one timers the China store closures FX and American Living would be a little bit higher in this quarter about a 700 basis point or 800 basis point drag to revenues. It looks like they're only about 5 100. I just wanted to see if any of that was pushed back into the back half or if there's any other change that I might have missed. And then but more importantly, Rogers, as you think about all the work that you've done with the company to establish Ralph Lauren as a luxury business over the last few years, Obviously, the more mainstream brands like the Polo brand are a huge input to the profit story for the company globally.
Do you think there's an opportunity to, I guess, even boost the focus on that side of the business over the next year and refocus on
some of those big profit drivers now that you're more I guess more established as a luxury player?
Yes. Hi, Michael. On the modeling question, I'll address that and then turn it over to Roger. The real difference between the three items, the 700 basis points to 800 basis points in the guidance and what we reported was FX, which strengthened a in the guidance and what we reported was FX, which strengthened a little bit from when we gave guidance last time. So that accounted for the difference.
FX was just better than we expected when we gave guidance previously.
Yes, the known effects of the store closures in American Living are very clear. So it's really just the movement of the FX as Chris said. Michael, I think your question is spot on. And I think we as a company feel that core brands or the brands such as Polo have enormous legs on a global basis. And one of the internal discussions we're having at the very moment is how to make sure we're properly focused to capture the extraordinary appeal of some of those brands.
And while we don't want to back off the incremental luxury positioning either in retail or product developments that Jackie has alluded to, absolutely brands such as Polo and others are bedrock for us and we're looking at how to accelerate their position and growth now, whether it's distribution ideas or marketing and branding ideas. So I think you'll hear more to come in the next couple of quarters about strategies we hope to employ to focus on those.
Next question?
We'll go next to Liz Dunn from Macquarie Capital.
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on a little bit better quarter than anticipated. My question is for Chris. What are your initial impressions of some of the opportunities there are to sort of evolve the CFO role?
And I was wondering if there's any change in the scope of the role or the reporting responsibilities versus what was in place previously?
Yes. I guess I'll start by just giving you a little bit about why I chose to come to Ralph Lauren and my initial impressions after being here for 6 weeks, which are really the same. First, I was very impressed with the iconic nature of the brand and its equity, including the ability to stretch across both price tiers and merchandise categories. The second thing that I was impressed with was the management team. I think the company has a very strong senior management team and one that I'm excited to be joining.
And then third, I would say is, I think the company has significant growth opportunities, both in terms of international, specific question on the role, the scope of the role is very similar to the scope previously that Tracy had and the reporting relationship remains the same. I report to Roger.
Liz, are you implying you want Chris to report to somebody else?
No. I was asking about any changes in reporting up to the CFO.
I'm sorry. So there's no changes with regard to who reports up to the CFO. Okay.
Yes. I think I would add to that. Chris has been very impressive in 6 weeks and I don't want to put pressure on him, but he's really a fast study and has made his presence felt. We're obviously in the early stages of thinking about next year's planning process and Chris will really lead that. He's also going to be taking a world trip starting next week that will take him from Europe through all the key points in Asia and back to the U.
S. Sometime right before Thanksgiving. So I think Chris is going to be a very active participant with the business units, with the corporate finance people and his impact, I believe, as a business partner to the IT function which is critical to the future the next part of our growth will be felt very quickly. So no pressure Chris, but he's also a good start.
Next question?
We'll go next to David Glick from Buckingham Research Group.
Yes. Good morning. Thank you. Chris, just a quick modeling question and follow-up with Roger. What's the comp assumption embedded in that mid single digit increase in Q3?
And then Roger, can you update us on what's going on in the pace of store openings in China? I believe you said you're going to open 15 stores in the second half of this fiscal year. If you could give us a sense, is that still on track and how you anticipate that rolling out over the next couple of years? And also kind of the size of the stores that you're anticipating, so we can try to put some rough numbers around what these stores can produce?
Okay. I guess on the modeling question, I think we want to stay from a guidance standpoint on an all in basis. So I think we're not going to go to providing the comp guidance at the Retail segment. We expect mid single digit growth and overall revenues for the Retail segment as we reported in the press release.
Yes. I think one of the things to keep in mind is that we'll be winding down against the China repositioning in 3rd Q4 when the bulk of the stores were closed and clearly the wind down of Rugby over the balance of this year will be sales drags. But we're actually seeing the business opportunity in the back half of the year against softer comps as more robust. The pace of opening in Asia is our original annual target was 20 stores. We've opened 7 to date.
So we have 13 in the back half. That may move around by 1 or 2 depending on a variety of situations. Our strategy there is not dissimilar from Europe or the United States. We are looking for key flagship hubs in the major markets and then we'll network around them with smaller footprints from 5000 to 9000 feet that will primarily be located in malls because the markets in China are really evolving into mall based shopping experiences. The flagship opportunities are harder to come by.
We have a couple in discussion. So the bulk of the 20 stores at the moment for this year primarily in the 5000 to 10000 foot range, combination of men's and women's luxury stores as well as a few children's stores and a couple men's only and a couple women's only. So we should have a good read on how that first twenty stores is being reacted to by the customer by the middle of the spring. And I think that will be a good time for us to get sufficient customer feedback to make sure we're on the right path.
Next question?
We'll go next to Erinn Murphy from Piper Jaffray.
Great. Congratulations on a very strong quarter and welcome to Chris to the team. I was just hoping both Roger and Jackie, maybe you could just elaborate a little bit more on some of the prepared remarks you made on the global merchandising initiatives. Can you just speak more about what the process is, what the benefit may be? And then how are you thinking about global SKU density in that context?
And then just a quick clarification, Roger, for you. You mentioned at the very beginning of the script talking about seeing some stabilization in Europe. Could you maybe just parse out a little bit more by region kind of what you are seeing there? That would be very helpful. Thank you.
So Erin, what we're really focused on is transitioning our company from a more U. S.-centric company to a global company. And what we recognize certainly is that all of our critical regional components have very important voices as to how we succeed in the future as a global company. In order to accomplish that, we have reestablished our merchandising divisions to support those global roles with key personnel involved from every regional area. So as we make our decisions, we're making them as worldwide decisions rather than U.
S. Centric decisions that have bolted on European or Asian influences. And what we are finding is that the world is primarily 80% the same, but those 20% variations are very important to capture the voice of our international customer. We certainly know that customer is traveling around the world. We want our footprint to look the same, but yet there are regional nuances that we believe are very important to state in each market and that's our approach.
In doing that, we have also seen some efficiencies that have come out of that structure. And regarding SKU efficiencies and being able to have more impressive quantities behind each style decision. So all in all, while we are in this for approximately a year at this point, We still believe we're in early stages, but we're very encouraged with what we see as the outcome.
Yes. Let me try the Europe question. 2nd quarter for us was a little better than Q1 in Europe. Although the general statement I made, which is the northern markets are better than the southern markets continue. In our definition of Europe, we also include the Middle East and Russia.
So those two markets have continued to be strong, have continued to perform well, whether in their home markets or whether those customers are traveling to Europe. So that's a particular bright spot. And almost like a heat map from the Scandinavian markets moving down, the strength of the business there has continued. I think what has occurred in some of the southern markets is this less panic perhaps over Italy and Spain and I'm discounting the disruption in Greece because it's a relatively minor part of our business. But I think there's a sense that those markets while difficult, there is a pathway for recovery.
And so while those markets continue to be softer than others, I think we're beginning to see the customer breathing again and being willing to function. They're very different markets. Italy is almost entirely specialty store driven and Spain is dominated by big department stores. So the specialty store market in Italy is still being run by small mom and pops and is more cautious in their forward purchasing, don't really want to buy new product until they've sold the existing product. And so we've been cautious about what we're willing to sell into that market in an effort to be responsive to their situation, also to be mindful that we want to get paid.
So with that, we continue to operate cautiously, but we are seeing a bit of a comfort with the customer as financial decisions are being made that give some backstop to the consequences of the euro. So we'll see. I think the holiday season will be particularly important. We still don't have large penetrations of Chinese tourists as other brands do and in their reporting much of their either growth or results are underpinned by 25%, 30% or 40% Chinese tourists. Our Chinese tourist penetration in Europe is still less than 2%.
And I don't think it will get larger until we're better represented in China. So they know our brand, they understand our brand and then when they travel they'll look for our brands in capital cities. So that's still to come in the years ahead.
Next question?
We'll go next to John Kernan from Cowen.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So I wanted to ask a little bit longer term thematic type question. The theme of you guys taking direct control of your brand and the profitability impact that that has? The retail operating margin has obviously been on a tremendous upward trajectory essentially since 2010.
And with all the emerging category expansion, the e commerce growth and the China eventual China expansion, can the profitability of this business reach similar levels to what the wholesale side of the business generates now looking multi years out? And then keeping on that directly controlled theme of your brand, the CHAPS license what your plans are for potentially directly operating that business too? Thanks.
All right, John. I'm going to start with the thematic question and I'm going to let Chris answer the specific one. We have extraordinary wholesale margins. There aren't any people I know about who are primarily apparel driven that run margins in the 25% range. And I think that it's unrealistic to believe that we will get there in retail without a meaningful mix of accessories, which should come with higher margins over time.
So the real sign of that possibility will be determined by our ability to create store layouts that are productive with high allocations to accessories, while still giving quality representation to our apparel. I think the kind of high teens margins we're running in retail now primarily in luxury apparel is pretty astronomical. So I think it's going to be driven off a mix change and regional development because as I've said before, I believe long term the regional opportunities for retail in Asia should be high profit contributors. And I think the fact that we've taken back these geographic territories or product categories and been able to manage them is embedded in why we've done so well over the last 5 or 10 years in good times or bad. Chris, do you want to try the CHAPS question?
Yes, I'll try the CHAPS question. So I think as most of you know, we have a license agreement with Warneco for the men's sportswear business for CHAPS. That license agreement has a change of control provision in it that gives us the option to take back the business in the event of a change of control of Warneco. Given how recent the news is, we haven't made a decision at this point, but we are in the process of evaluating options with regard to that business and we'll provide an update in due course once we get through that process.
Next question?
We'll go next to Barbara Rykoff from CLSA.
Hi, everyone. Good job. My question is on gentlemen supply. What do you see as the successes and challenges when you're in? Can you talk about domestic versus international?
And then as part of this, how many doors do you have by region wholesale plus owned stores?
Well, we're very pleased with the initial response over our 1st year in Denim and Supply. As you know, this is our 2nd fall season. And as you develop a brand, because of the cadence of purchase and sales, you literally can't make any changes and tweak a brand for the 1st 9 months or so. So following our initial launch with what we thought were positive results and what we thought would be things that we needed to change. One of the biggest standouts to us was how positive the jeans business is, as we presented Denim and Supply as a lifestyle brand.
So we are working diligently now having identified what those key products are. And now we're putting in a BSR programs in both men's and women's in our core denim to be able to drive that opportunity to be a minimum of 30% of the business, highly successful and highly predictable. The attitude of the brand driven by the gritty nature and unusual presentation in our marketing context, both in print and online has been extremely successful. We partnered with Avicii and he has created a very interesting draw for the brand. He is a highly successful entertainer and he has really created tremendous crowd draw to this brand and to its success.
We've had a very positive fall season and while we continue to tweak a little more of this and a little less of that, we're very optimistic. As you know, the brand in the U. S. Is exclusively in Macy's that will be rolling out to additional 100 doors starting next fall and to Hudson Bay in Canada where we're also experiencing some very positive results. And at this point, we've confined the brand to those 2 key customers.
As I said, we're very optimistic on our position for the millennial customer, which is a high focus area for our department store customers and one that we believe will be with this Denim and Supply brand a strong reach towards that customer and driving additional opportunities into our department stores. We also have launched our Denim and Supply brand internationally, beginning with freestanding stores in both Asia and in Europe and those also have performed extremely well. In that environment, instead of having men's separate from women's, which is sort of the requirement of the nature of a department store, there we're able to merchandise the brand together and with a very exciting impact where the consumer really is the place to be. So the customer is shopping with significant other in the store and it has a tremendous pulse and a great result. And as I said, we're very pleased with where the first few stores are at this point.
And I think we have plans for many stores to follow. Next question?
We'll take our last question from Robbie Ohmes from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Thanks very much. Actually, two very quick questions. Roger, I wanted to ask you actually on Rugby as a follow-up. You mentioned I think in your comments that it was a tough decision. Is there anything you can tell us?
Was there a strategic decision behind that? Or what pushed you over the edge? And is it a commentary on how you see smaller brands out there or brands that are too U. S. Centric?
Maybe just your thoughts on that. And then just a quick follow-up for Jackie would be, could you maybe give us a little more detail on the approach in North America for holiday this year versus last year in terms of where you see pushing by channel and inventory investment versus last year? Thanks.
Okay, Ravi. It was a tough decision because we put a lot of time, energy and money into this brand over a number of years. And I think that comes with a lot of heart and a lot of personal effort by a lot of people in the company. Our decision at this point was really based on our desire to focus on opportunities that we have in front of us. And I think Michael talked about this a little earlier in terms of Polo and some of the other brands.
I think our conclusion was to take our energies and our resources and apply them against existing brands that have a global footprint as opposed to the ongoing efforts to build something from scratch. I think to build a brand from scratch organically in a brick and mortar retail environment takes a lot of time and money and energy. And I think the company's decision really just reflects the numerous choices we have to expand some of our other initiatives, one of which Jackie talked about Denim and Supply or Polo or Children's or even a RRL. And I think in the past many of you have talked to us about focus and are we focusing on the right issues. And I think in our decision making it was relative weights of opportunities and the expected returns we anticipate getting.
So that was all part of our decision. The second part of your question I think is directed to Jackie.
Yes. On our approach to holiday. So in our retail stores where sort of our thoughts start, we have a very crisp approach to a very strong and bright statement in our holiday accessory business. It's what do you want to buy for yourself and what do you want to buy as a gift. So that starts off our first question to ourselves.
And I think we've put together a very exciting presentation of product that begins to roll out into the stores this between November and of course early December that speaks to that. That story is really supported by a fabulous holiday mailer, which speaks directly to our VIP clientele for our Ralph Lauren stores. Our holiday approach in department stores is a very crisp and very direct approach to what we want that customer to buy. So we're crystal clear when we determine what we want to set up, how many colors do we want to set up, where does it sit on the floor, how do we speak to the customer with that specific item. We try to create a lot of ease of shopping and at the same time a lot of excitement as to what we're presenting.
We back that up with all of our strategic partners with critical marketing that speaks both in store and online to those special items and those key purchases for the holiday season. And I think we've put together an extremely appealing assortment as we enter into this critical holiday period. We're armed and dangerous.
Okay. With that, I would just like to again reinforce my thanks for the hard work that everybody within our corporation has extended to those affected by this unfortunate hurricane. I'd also like to again welcome Chris and know that as he and Jim plan the next couple of months of a listening tour, I think you'll all get to know him and enjoy him as much as we have already. And with that, I hope you and your families are safe and warm and dry. So thank you very much.
I appreciate your attention.
That does conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation.