Aeropostale had a disappointing fourth quarter as its sales and comparable sales returned negative numbers, respectively. But CEO Julian Geiger is confident the company can turn things around in 2015 as it redefined its target customer.
“We have redefined both our business model and our target customer,” Geiger said during the company’s March 12 fourth-quarter earnings conference call, according to Seeking Alpha. “These two changes go hand-in-hand. In Aeropostale, where our store size still averages only slightly over 3,500 square feet, if we are to be relevant, we need to have a distinct point of view and stand for something. We will be a brand that stands for updated classics in its merchandise orientation, but has strong and complementary contemporary additions that result in an exciting, but unique, total store assortment 
and presentation.”
Geiger noted that “we are living through interesting and volatile times in terms of retail performance.”
Despite that caveat, he is confident that the company’s back-to-school timeframe will reap extraordinary benefits.
“I believe the back-to-school assortment we have just created for 2015 is as focused, as directed, and on target as any we have curated in the past,” Geiger explained.
Aeropostale shifted from a horizontal organizational structure to a vertical one, Geiger said.
“We have aligned all divisions by classification and are leveraging the talent in the organization across our most important merchandise areas,” he explained. “The merchants now have responsibility for all channels of distribution. I am already starting to see progress and the impact the merchants are having on our ecommerce and Canadian assortments for back-to-school.”
As part of its structural reorganization, Aeropostale broke out emerging brands.
“With both Tokyo Darling and Brooklyn Calling, targeting a customer who is slightly different than, but overlapping with, the target Aeropostale customer, we have a dedicated, slow, and aggressive merchandising team, building the proper assortment for these new customers,” Geiger explained. “We believe that the contribution these brands make by introducing relevant, but more contemporary fashion merchandise than one would find in Aeropostale or in our traditional competitors, will be a point of differentiation in our stores.”
The coordination of the assortment of these targeted brands, Geiger added, “when combined with the merchandise from social media influences like Bethany Mota, in my mind, creates a magnet inducing customers to shop at Aeropostale.”