J. Crew ($PRIVATE:JCREW) has repeatedly sought to restructure debt since being bought out and taken private - a sign that the clothing retailer is struggling under its debt load, and possibly under pressure from e-commerce competitors as well.
Plenty of retailers are feeling the pinch - but J. Crew, whose private equity owners Leonard Green and TPG bought the company in a $3 billion 2010 deal, is particularly under the gun. Late last year it lost a CEO, and has yet to name a new one. It could be causing stagnation elsewhere. For the last few years, J. Crew - like so many other retailers - tend to reduce job postings to begin the year, after holiday shopping wraps up, and ramp up staffing over the course of the year as demand grows. But, so far in 2019, J. Crew has reduced overall job postings more than 4%, a particularly troubling sign with back-to-school shopping happening now.
J. Crew, in particular, has seen its total likes count on Facebook decline, meaning some consumers are actively disengaging with the brand, as well. Through Facebook ($FB) data, we can measure Likes over time, as well as how often people are discussing a brand on the social network (Talking About Count).
And, both J. Crew and Madewell - the subsidiary brand the company is reportedly trying to spin out to raise cash - are also facing declining follower counts (not pictured) on Twitter ($TWTR). From our last chart - Facebook Talking About Count - we can see social chatter around the brand has also slid in recent years.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.