Business description of DILLARDS-INC from last 10-k form

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General

        Dillard's, Inc. ("Dillard's", the "Company", "we", "us", "our" or "Registrant") ranks among the nation's largest apparel and home furnishing retailers. Our Company, originally founded in 1938 by William T. Dillard, was incorporated in Delaware in 1964. As of January 29, 2011, we operated 308 Dillard's stores, including 14 clearance centers, and one Internet store offering a wide selection of merchandise including fashion apparel for women, men and children, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings and other consumer goods. On August 29, 2008, the Company purchased the remaining interest in CDI Contractors, LLC and CDI Contractors, Inc. ("CDI"), a former 50% equity method joint venture investment of the Company. CDI is a general contractor whose business includes constructing and remodeling stores for the Company.

        In January 2011, the Company formed a wholly-owned subsidiary that will seek to operate as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") and a wholly-owned captive insurance subsidiary ("Captive"). We believe the formation of a REIT may enhance our ability to access debt or preferred stock and thereby enhance our liquidity. Operating subsidiaries of Dillard's have transferred certain real estate interests to the REIT. Under the Captive, the following policies were in place as of January 29, 2011: (1) Workers' Compensation & General Liability—includes claims for self-insured workers' compensation (with a self-insured retention of $4 million per claim) and general liability (with a self-insured retention of $1 million per claim and a one-time $1 million corridor) and (2) Accident & Health—includes certain claims for self-insured medical, health, salary and related expenses with a minimum attachment that varies and a specific limit of $300 thousand per plan participant. Additional types of coverage will be contemplated for future inclusion in the Captive.

        The following table summarizes the percentage of net sales by segment and major product line:

        Most of our stores are located in suburban shopping malls and open-air centers. Our customers may also purchase merchandise on-line at our website, www.dillards.com, which features on-line gift registries and a variety of other services. We operate retail department stores located primarily in the southwest, southeast and midwest regions of the United States. The stores are located in 29 states.

        We conduct our retail merchandise business under highly competitive conditions. Although we are a large regional department store, we have numerous competitors at the national and local level that compete with our individual stores, including specialty, off-price, discount and Internet retailers. Competition is characterized by many factors including location, reputation, assortment, advertising,

price, quality, service and credit availability. We believe that our stores are in a strong competitive position with regard to each of these factors. Other retailers may compete for customers on some or all of these factors, or on other factors, and may be perceived by some potential customers as being better aligned with their particular preferences.

        Our merchandise selections include, but are not limited to, Dillard's lines of exclusive brand merchandise such as Antonio Melani, Gianni Bini, Roundtree & Yorke and Daniel Cremieux. Dillard's exclusive brands/private label merchandise program provides benefits for Dillard's and our customers. Our customers receive fashionable, higher quality product often at a savings compared to national brands. Dillard's private label merchandise program allows us to ensure Dillard's high standards are achieved, while minimizing costs and differentiating our merchandise offerings from other retailers.

        We have made a significant investment in our trademark and license portfolio, in terms of design function, advertising, quality control, manufacturing process and quick response to market trends in a quality manufacturing environment. Dillard's trademark registrations are maintained for as long as Dillard's holds the exclusive right to use the trademarks on the listed products.

        Our merchandising, sales promotion and store operating support functions are conducted primarily at our corporate headquarters. Our back office sales support functions for the Company, such as accounting, product development, store planning and information technology, are also centralized.

        We have developed a knowledge of each of our trade areas and customer bases for our stores. This knowledge is enhanced through regular store visits by senior management and merchandising personnel and through the use of on-line merchandise information and is supported by our regional merchandising offices. We will continue to use existing technology and research to edit assortments by store to meet the specific preference, taste and size requirements of each local operating area.

        Certain departments in our stores are licensed to independent companies in order to provide high quality service and merchandise where specialization, focus and expertise are critical. The licensed departments vary by store to complement our own merchandising departments. The principal licensed department is an upscale women's apparel vendor in certain stores. The terms of the license agreements typically range between three and five years with one year renewals and require the licensee to pay for fixtures and to provide their own employees. We regularly evaluate the performance of the licensed departments and require compliance with established customer service guidelines. The licensee for the fine jewelry department ceased operation of all licensed outlets during fiscal 2009.

        GE Consumer Finance ("GE") owns and manages Dillard's proprietary credit cards ("proprietary cards") under a long-term marketing and servicing alliance ("Alliance") that expires in fiscal 2014. GE establishes and owns proprietary card accounts for our customers, retains the benefits and risks associated with the ownership of the accounts, provides key customer service functions, including new account openings, transaction authorization, billing adjustments and customer inquiries, receives the finance charge income and incurs the bad debts associated with those accounts. Pursuant to the Alliance, we receive on-going cash compensation from GE based upon the portfolio's earnings. The compensation earned on the portfolio is determined monthly and has no recourse provisions. Further pursuant to this agreement, we have no continuing involvement other than to honor the proprietary cards in our stores. Although not obligated to a specific level of marketing commitment, we participate in the marketing of the proprietary cards and accept payments on the proprietary cards in our stores as a convenience to customers who prefer to pay in person rather than by paying online or mailing their payments to GE.

        We seek to expand the number and use of the proprietary cards by, among other things, providing incentives to sales associates to open new credit accounts, which generally can be opened while a customer is visiting one of our stores. Customers who open accounts are rewarded with discounts on future purchases. Proprietary card customers are sometimes offered private shopping nights, direct mail

catalogs, special discounts and advance notice of sale events. GE has created various loyalty programs that reward customers for frequency and volume of proprietary card usage.

        Our earnings depend to a significant extent on the results of operations for the last quarter of our fiscal year. Due to holiday buying patterns, sales for that period average approximately one-third of annual sales.

        As of January 29, 2011, we employed approximately 38,900 full-time and part-time associates, of which approximately 24% were part-time. The number of associates varies during the year, especially during peak seasonal selling periods.

        We purchase merchandise from many sources and do not believe that we are dependent on any one supplier. We have no long-term purchase commitments or arrangements with any of our suppliers and consider our relationships to be strong and mutually beneficial.

        Our fiscal year ends on the Saturday nearest January 31 of each year. Fiscal years 2010, 2009 and 2008 ended on January 29, 2011, January 30, 2010 and January 31, 2009, respectively, and each included 52 weeks.

        For additional information with respect to our business, reference is made to information contained under the descriptions "Net sales," "Net income (loss)" and "Total assets" under Item 6 hereof and to information contained in Note 2 of "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" in Item 8 hereof.

        The information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K and should not be considered to be a part of this Form 10-K. Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, statements of changes in beneficial ownership of securities on Form 4 and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge (as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC) on the Dillard's, Inc. website:

www.dillards.com

        We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Corporate Governance Guidelines, as required by the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange and the rules of the SEC. We have posted on our website our Code of Conduct, Corporate Governance Guidelines, Social Accountability Policy and committee charters for the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors and the Stock Option and Executive Compensation Committee.

        Our corporate offices are located at 1600 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201, telephone: 501-376-5200.

ITEM 1A.    RISK FACTORS.

        The risks described in Item 1A, Risk Factors, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 29, 2011, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The risk factors discussed below do not identify all risks that we face because our business operations could also be affected by additional factors that are not presently known to us.

        The Company cautions that forward-looking statements, as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based on estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions of management at the time of such statements and are not guarantees of future performance. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements based on the occurrence of future events, the receipt of new information, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements of the Company involve risks and uncertainties and are

subject to change based on various important factors. Actual future performance, outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company and its management as a result of a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions.

The retail merchandise business is highly competitive, and that competition could lower revenues, margins and market share.

        We conduct our retail merchandise business under highly competitive conditions. Although we are a large regional department store, we have numerous competitors at the national and local level that compete with our individual stores, including specialty, off-price, discount, Internet and mail-order retailers. Competition is characterized by many factors including location, reputation, fashion, merchandise assortment, advertising, price, quality, service and credit availability. We anticipate that intense competition will continue. If we are unable to maintain our competitive position, we could experience downward pressure on prices, lower demand for products, reduced margins, the inability to take advantage of new business opportunities and the loss of market share.

Changes in economic, market and other conditions could adversely affect our operating results.

        The retail merchandise business is affected by changes in international, national, regional, and local economic conditions, consumer preferences and spending patterns, demographic trends, consumer confidence, consumer credit availability, weather, traffic patterns, the type, number and location of competing stores, and the effects of war or terrorist activities and any governmental responses thereto. Factors such as inflation, apparel costs, labor and benefit costs, legal claims, and the availability of management and hourly employees also affect store operations and administrative expenses. Our ability to finance new store development, improvements and additions to existing stores, and the acquisition of stores from competitors is affected by economic conditions, including interest rates and other government policies impacting land and construction costs and the availability of borrowed funds.