TJX Adds New Sustainability Goals as Customers Return to Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Stores in the TJX Companies family are part of a growing trend of shoppers returning to brick-and-mortar stores, with its Marshalls and TJ Maxx stores leading the way in increased traffic, according to a company press release Wednesday (May 18).

Marshalls’ and TJ Maxx’s comparable store sales were up 3% year over year in the three months ending April 30, thanks in large part to increased customer traffic after a 12% jump in open-only comparable store sales in Q1 of fiscal year 2022, release stated. Overall, TJX’s U.S. comparable store sales growth was flat compared to 17% growth one year earlier.

“I am particularly pleased that our first-quarter pretax profit margin and earnings per share, each on an adjusted basis, exceeded our plans even though our sales were slightly below our planned range,” said TJX Companies CEO and President Ernie Herrman in the release. “This underscores the power of our flexible, off-price business model when we execute well. For the full year, we see opportunity to further improve our profitability… We believe our value proposition is as appealing as ever for consumers in today’s retail environment, and we are excited about our initiatives to drive customer traffic and sales. We remain focused on our long-term vision to become an increasingly profitable, $60-billion-plus company.”

TJX also rolled out four new environmental sustainability goals to buttress its previous environmental commitments, according to the release, including net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations by 2040; sourcing 100% renewable energy in its operations by 2030; diverting 85% of its operational waste from landfill by 2027; and shifting 100% of the packaging for products developed in-house by its product design team to be reusable, recyclable or contain sustainable materials by 2030.

TJX has missed analysts’ expectations for two quarters running, and it fell short of its targets for the full fiscal year, in part because the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 caused store closures.

Read more: TJX FY22 Optimism Dampened by Stock Price Drop