Citi Trends Stock

Citi Trends, Inc. (Citi Trends) is a leading specialty value retailer of apparel, accessories and home trends for way less spend, primarily for African American and multicultural families in the United States. The company’s stores are located at the crossroads of low to moderate income households and serve as a one-stop shop for the entire family. The company’s stores average approximately 11,000 square feet of selling space and are typically located in outdoor community shopping centers across a variety of urban, suburban and rural markets.

Strategy

The key elements of the company’s strategy are to focus on fashion and trend mix; seek to offer top quality, fashionable merchandise for way less spend; merchandise its stores to create a specialty store environment that serves as a destination that meets the apparel and non-apparel needs of the entire family; maintain strong sourcing relationships with a large group of suppliers; seek to provide a fashion-focused shopping environment that is similar to a specialty apparel retailer, rather than a typical discount or big box retailer; friendly and helpful store associates; and drive comparable store productivity.

Product and Value

The company’s merchandising strategy is to offer fresh and fashionable apparel, accessories and home trends for way less spend for value-conscious families. The company seeks to maintain a diverse assortment of in-season merchandise that appeals to the specific tastes and preferences of its core customers. The company’s assortment consists of privately-developed and nationally-recognized brands.

The company’s merchandise is represented by six distinct Citis within the store:

Ladies: A wide selection of apparel for juniors, missy and women (plus size), including fashion sportswear, outerwear, sleepwear, lingerie and scrubs.

Mens: A wide selection of apparel for men and big men, including fashion sportswear and outerwear.

Kids: Fashion clothing for boys and girls up to size 20 and sizes for newborns, infants and toddlers, as well as kids uniforms and kids accessories.

Accessories and Beauty: Fashionable handbags, luggage, hats, belts, sunglasses, jewelry and watches for men and women, as well as basic undergarments for the entire family and expansive beauty and fragrance offerings for women and men.

Home and Lifestyle: Home goods for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and decorative accessories, plus an eclectic composition of wants and needs, such as books, food, tech products, team sports products, toys, health and beauty products and seasonal items.

Footwear: Casual and dress footwear in sizes for Mens, Ladies and Kids.

Store Operations

The company’s stores are located in the heart of the lower-income communities it serves. The company provides a place to shop that is fresh and fun for the entire family at prices that don’t break the bank. The company offers a layaway program that allows customers to purchase merchandise by initially paying a 20% deposit.

Advertising and Marketing

The company’s marketing goals are to build the Citi Trends brand, promote customers’ association of the Citi Trends brand with value, quality, fashion and everyday low prices and drive traffic into its stores. The company generally focuses its advertising efforts on utilizing emails, social media and text messaging. The company uses its social media channels to highlight its brand and engages its customers with compelling digital content on a regular basis. The company’s website at www.cititrends.com showcases its latest in-store products and provides information about its business, including a store locator.

Distribution

The majority of merchandise sold in the company’s stores is shipped directly from company-operated distribution centers in Darlington, South Carolina and Roland, Oklahoma, utilizing third-party delivery partners. The company’s stores receive multiple shipments of merchandise each week from its distribution centers. In addition, the company initiated a vendor direct-to-store shipping program in fiscal 2020 that continues to enable it to expedite the delivery of select merchandise to its stores by shipping directly from its vendors.

The distribution centers’ value-added services include, but are not limited to, receiving, price ticketing, packing and shipping specific store-allocated quantities. The company continues to evaluate distribution, transportation and supply chain alternatives to accelerate the movement of merchandise from its vendor origin points to its stores as optimally as possible.

Intellectual Property

The company’s trademarks and service marks have significant value and are important to its marketing efforts. The company’s marks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office include Citi Trends, Citi Steps, Citi Trends Fashion for Less, CitiHome, CitiCARES, Lovestar, MCMXXXIII, Lil Ms Hollywood, Red Ape, and Vintage Harlem.

Seasonality

The nature of the company’s business is seasonal. Historically, sales in the first and fourth quarters have been higher than sales achieved in the second and third quarters of the fiscal year (year ended January 28, 2023).

History

Citi Trends, Inc. was founded in 1946. The company was incorporated in 1999.