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Williams-Sonoma's West Elm Opens Wholesale Store in Ireland

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Among the portfolio of brands belonging to Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM - Free Report) , West Elm announced the commencement of wholesale operations in Ireland with the opening of a branded shop-in-shop in the country’s oldest department store, Arnotts.

This marks West Elm’s second European wholesale venture after its launch with John Lewis in 2015. This is in sync with the company’s plans to expand its international wholesale business.

Starting October 2017, the 1,100 square feet shop-in-shop outlet will be located on the second floor of Arnotts’ Henry Street location in Dublin. The wholesale operations will also be maintained online through arnotts.ie. Over 90 different products including furniture and accessories for living, dining and bed room have been assorted by West Elm for this purpose.

Williams-Sonoma offers premium quality products and operates under numerous popular brands. This multi-brand/multi-channel format allows the company to strengthen its brand portfolio. Additionally, the company enjoys strong international presence. Other than the United States, Williams-Sonoma operates retail stores in Philippines, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The company also has franchised stores in some of the countries in the Middle East.

Strong international presence allows Williams-Sonoma to increase its diversity of aesthetics and cater to a wide range of customers. Also, the company’s strategy of regionalization of products by working with the local artisans is having a positive impact on demand across channels.

However, soft comparable brand revenues and intensifying competition in the U.S. e-commerce and retail businesses space pose challenges for Williams-Sonoma. The company has gained 1.6% year to date compared with 6.7% growth of its industry.




Nonetheless, Williams-Sonoma’s widespread operations lend it a scale advantage which provides the company with productivity gains. Moreover, the company has seen a respective rise of 2.4% and 0.8% in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current quarter and year earnings over the last 60 days, reflecting analyst optimism on the stock.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Williams-Sonoma currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A few better-ranked stocks in the Retail-Wholesale sector include Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (RH - Free Report) , Kirkland's, Inc. (KIRK - Free Report) and Movado Group Inc. (MOV - Free Report) .

Restoration Hardware sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company’s current-year earnings are expected to increase 95.4%.

Kirkland's carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and the company carries a VGM Score of A.

Movado Group also flaunts a Zacks Rank #1. Full-year earnings of the company are likely to increase 0.6%.

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