As shopping continues to shift away from brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) is investing in technology to connect its physical stores to digital.
Specifically, Blake Nordstrom, the company's co-president, announced plans to expand a "Reserve Online and Try in Stores" option from a handful of stores in Seattle to Chicago, immediately, and then to Nordstrom stores in all 50 states.
The company also added a feature to its mobile app that allows shoppers to scan an item in-store, but fulfill the order online. This is handy in cases where they want a different color or size than what's in stock, for example.
Traditional retailers have experimented with but been generally slow to adapt their businesses to e-commerce and mobile shopping behavior.
Meanwhile, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is ramping up its efforts in apparel, with a $3.4-billion share of a $200-billion apparel market in the U.S., and realized a 25% increase in apparel sales last year, compared with industry-wide growth of just 3%.
Nordstrom's second-quarter earnings, out Thursday, met Wall Street expectations, a rare feat for department stores these days. Total net sales increased 3.5% and comparable sales increased 1.7%, compared with the same quarter last year.
Q2 net earnings were $110 million and earnings before interest and taxes ("EBIT") were $217 million, or 5.8% of net sales, compared with net earnings of $117 million and EBIT of $221 million, or 6.1% of net sales, during the same period in fiscal 2016.
Shares in Nordstrom dropped 19 cents in late Friday trading to $44.69.