Pottery Barn 2013 Annual Report Download - page 7

Dear Fellow Stockholders,
At Williams-Sonoma, Inc., we believe that without our customers, nothing else matters. Our customers
around the world love their homes, and we have a singular focus on helping them make their homes a
reflection of who they are. This commitment is evident across all of our brands – Pottery Barn, Pottery
Barn Kids, PBteen, Williams-Sonoma, West Elm, Rejuvenation, and Mark and Graham. Each brand’s
unique design aesthetic enables our company to address a broad spectrum of our customers’ personal
styles, needs and life stages. Our brands offer innovative, exclusive products that help our customers
decorate, entertain and create the home of their dreams. Our high-touch service model and multi-
channel marketing allow us to reach these customers and attract new ones in increasingly relevant ways,
while our supply chain enables us to deliver exceptional quality and value.
Throughout fiscal 2013, we stayed focused on our customers by providing a differentiated and highly
relevant experience. At the same time, we executed our strategic plan, investing in our brands and the
supporting infrastructure to ensure sustainable long-term growth both domestically and worldwide. Our
results this year confirm that our strategies are working. We outperformed the retail industry, gaining
market share and demonstrating the structural advantage of our multi-brand, multi-channel platform. We
completed fiscal 2013 with record results – net revenues of $4.388 billion, operating income of
$452 million and earnings per share of $2.82 – while also returning over $350 million to our
stockholders through stock repurchases and dividends.
Highlights of our fiscal 2013 achievements include:
•Growth in our brands – Comparable brand revenue growth across our business in fiscal
2013 was 8.8%, on top of 6.1% growth in fiscal 2012. Our exclusive products, great
design, lifestyle positioning, and accessible price points are allowing us to lead the
market.
•Global expansion and new business development – We entered Australia and the
United Kingdom with company-owned stores and fully enabled e-commerce and
distribution capabilities, expanded our business in the Middle East through our franchise
partner, and secured a new franchise partner in the Philippines. Our new businesses –
Rejuvenation and Mark and Graham – continue to develop, and we believe are bringing
in new customers.
•Further regionalization of our domestic supply chain – We insourced furniture
delivery hubs in three geographies and further regionalized our retail fulfillment
capabilities. We also expanded our U.S. upholstered furniture manufacturing operations
and our personalization capabilities, and we made progress in taking over our agent
sourcing relationships.
•Technology and infrastructure investment – We continued to invest in technology to
support our multi-channel business. E-commerce represented 44% of our net revenues,
and we believe the investments we are making in technology to redefine the customer
experience are allowing us to provide the best level of service to our customers.
We are proud of the results we achieved in fiscal 2013 in all of our brands and across our business
initiatives. The results demonstrate that our proven execution and financial discipline allow us to deliver
sustainable returns and increase stockholder value. We are fortunate to have a portfolio of brands that
provides significant opportunities for growth and market share gains.
Stockholders Letters