At the TJX annual meeting, Ernie Herrman, president and CEO of the company, said that it will continue to leverage its business model to generate traffic gains and additional comparable store sales as a means to build the business and boost its value for investors while, at the same time, developing new initiatives.
He pointed to the introduction of the HomeSense retail banner in the U.S. as an example of new initiatives. Developed as a home-oriented off-pricer the company developed for the Canadian market, the U.S. HomeSense format will depart from the earlier version and launch as a complement to the existing HomeGoods operation, according to a TJX source. The relationship between the two home-oriented off-pricers will be analogous to that between T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, the source noted.
In addition, Herrman said TJX would continue developing its digital operations, keeping them carefully differentiated from and complementary to the brick-and-mortar stores, and emphasize its loyalty program to entice more consumers through the doors of its various retail banners.
Even without new store concepts, Herrman said, TJX expects it can bring the overall store count up to 5,600 globally from about 3,800 today.
