TJ Maxx 2015 Annual Report Download - page 32

facilities located in the affected areas. Day-to-day operations, particularly our ability to receive products from our
vendors or transport products to our stores could be adversely affected, or we could be required to close stores
or distribution centers in the affected areas or in areas served by affected distribution centers for a short or
extended period of time. As a result, our business could be adversely affected.
As our business is subject to seasonal influences, a decrease in sales or margins, a severe disruption or other
significant event that impacts our business during the second half of the year could have a disproportionately
adverse effect on our operating results.
Our business is subject to seasonal influences. We generally realize higher levels of sales and income in the
second half of the year, which includes the back-to-school and year-end holiday seasons. Any decrease in sales
or margins or any significant adverse event during this period could have a disproportionately adverse effect on
our results of operations.
Damage to our corporate reputation or those of our retail banners could adversely affect our sales and operating
results.
We believe that building the brand reputation of our retail banners is important to our continuing success. In
the many different markets in which we do business, we work to build relationships with our customers through
our various marketing campaigns. These relationships and our reputation are based, in part, on perceptions of
subjective qualities, so incidents involving us, merchandise that we carry or our industry more generally that
erode trust or confidence could adversely affect our reputation and our business, particularly if the incidents
result in rapid or significant adverse publicity or governmental inquiry. Similarly, information about us, our retail
banners and the merchandise we sell, including our licensed or owned brands, publicized through traditional or
social media platforms and similar venues, including blogs, websites, and other forums for rapid, broad
communications to an audience of consumers and other interested persons, may adversely affect our reputation
and brand, even if the information is unverified or inaccurate. The reputation of our company and our retail
banners may be damaged by adverse events at the corporate level or at our retail banners in all, one or some of
the markets in which we do business. Damage to the reputation of our company and our banners could result in
declines in customer loyalty and sales, affect our vendor relationships, development opportunities and Associate
retention and otherwise adversely affect our business.
Quality, safety or other issues with merchandise we sell could damage our reputation, sales and financial results.
Various governmental authorities in the jurisdictions where we do business regulate the quality and safety of
the merchandise we sell to consumers. Regulations and standards in this area, including those related to the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, state regulations like California’s Proposition 65, and similar
legislation in other countries in which we operate, impose restrictions and requirements on the merchandise we sell
in our stores and through e-commerce. These regulations change from time to time and new federal, state,
provincial or local regulations in the U.S. and other countries that may affect our business are contemplated and
enacted with some regularity. If we or our merchandise vendors are unable to comply with regulatory requirements
on a timely basis or at all, or to adequately monitor new regulations that may apply to existing or new merchandise
categories or in new geographies, significant fines or penalties could be incurred or we could have to curtail some
aspects of our sales or operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. We rely on
our vendors to provide quality merchandise that complies with applicable product safety laws and other applicable
laws, but they may not comply with their obligations to do so. Although our arrangements with our vendors
frequently provide for indemnification for product liabilities, the vendors may fail to honor those obligations to an
extent we consider sufficient or at all. Issues with the quality and safety of merchandise, particularly with food, bath
and body and children’s products, and issues with the genuineness of merchandise, or customer concerns about
such issues, regardless of our fault, could cause damage to our reputation and could result in lost sales, uninsured
product liability claims or losses, merchandise recalls and increased costs, and regulatory, civil or criminal fines or
penalties, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.
16