Bath & Body Works (BBWI) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending April 29, 2023

May 18, 2023 9:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning. My name is Christie, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Bath & Body Works First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

I will now turn the call over to Ms. Heather Hollander, Vice President, Investor Relations at Bath & Body Works. Heather, you may begin.

Heather Hollander

Good morning, and welcome to Bath & Body Works' First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call may contain forward-looking statements related to future events and expectations. Please refer to this morning's press release and the risk factors in Bath & Body Works' 2022 Form 10-K for factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

Today's call contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to this morning's press release and supplemental materials for important disclosures regarding such measures, including reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measure. Joining me on the call today are Gina Boswell, Chief Executive Officer; Julie Rosen, President, Retail; and Wendy Arlin, Chief Financial Officer.

I'll now turn the call over to Gina.

Gina Boswell

Thank you, Heather, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you all joining us today. I'll start this morning with a review of our first quarter results and then discuss the progress that our team has made so far in executing our strategy as well as some of the opportunities that we see ahead. This quarter, we continue to leverage the agility of our vertically integrated supply chain as well as our outstanding innovation capabilities, from product development through design and merchandising. We deliver newness and increased unit market share across our 3 major product categories.

While home fragrance and soaps and sanitizers at an overall industry level, continue to contract driven by post-pandemic normalization, we continue to gain unit share. Our customers remain highly engaged with the Bath & Body Works brand. A prime example of this is the excitement and strong sales of our single fragrance launches, including our new Gingham collection which Julie will discuss in more detail.

This successful launch once again showcased our team's ability to read and react, that is to respond swiftly and effectively to customer signals. When we observe that Gingham's initial results exceeded our expectations, we quickly increased our supply to meet the heightened demand, fulfilling our commitment to the customer. It's this ability to adapt quickly coupled with our intense focus on efficiency that helps us effectively manage the ongoing challenging macroeconomic environment.