Footwear company Caleres has posted a 1.8 per cent drop in sales for the second quarter, which management said was below expectations.

The company’s Famous Footwear division saw a 1.5 per cent uplift in sales, but its brand portfolio sales slid 5.1 per cent.

President and CEO Jay Schmidt said both segments fell short of our potential as the company’s “systems implementation led to lack of visibility”.

“We also experienced weak seasonal demand, and back-to-school business came later than expected,” Schmidt added.

On the bottom line, net earnings fell from $33.9 million last year to $30 million.

The company has revised its full-year guidance, expecting sales to decrease by low single digits and operating margins to be in the range of 7-7.1 per cent. The retailer previously projected annual sales to be flat to up 2 per cent.

“We are confident in our ability to get back on track and have addressed the issues from the ERP implementation that temporarily impacted visibility,” Schmidt said. “We are also accelerating certain restructuring actions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our teams.”

• Further reading: Caleres to launch Naturalizer and Sam Edelman in Greater China