Wolverine Worldwide has put a succession plan in motion. The Rockford, MI-based firm has named Brendan Hoffman, a 30-year merchandising, retail and digital marketing veteran, as its next president. His appointment — as well as his appointment as a Wolverine Worldwide director — is effective Sept. 8. The former CEO and President of Bon-Ton Stores, Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus Direct will transition over a period of time to Wolverine Worldwide CEO.

Once he assumes the president’s position, Hoffman will immediately be charged with driving growth across the company’s portfolio of lifestyle brands with Wolverine senior executives Jim Zwiers, Chris Hufnagel, Joelle Grunberg, Tom Kennedy and Angelo Ng each reporting to him.

During a second-quarter earnings call with analysts, the firm also said its business continues to be bolstered by its surging e-commerce business, but that it is realizing mixed results from its portfolio of a dozen footwear brands and from its wholesale retail partners.

“There’s some distinct consumer trends right now that are tailwinds for many of our brands, and there’s a few that are headwinds,” Blake Krueger, Wolverine chairman, CEO and president, told analysts last week.

The Merrell, Saucony and Wolverine brand parent is benefitting from consumer trends focused on outdoor, running and work and home comfort and being negatively impacted on some shifting away from dress, casual fashion and traditional casual shoes, which hurt its Sperry and Keds brands and department store partners.

“We think that’s probably going to continue here until the pandemic runs its course here over the next six to nine months,” Krueger said, adding he expects regional and state-by-state variations and some volatility in the company’s business until a universal vaccine for COVID-19 emerges. Mall-based retailers are forecast to remain a “bit challenged” for the foreseeable future as the family footwear channel remains a “mixed.” But sporting goods retailers are expected to continue performing well for key categories, as is the farm and fleet segment that contributed positively to Wolverine’s strong work boot performance in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the consumer shift to digital adoption, accelerated by the pandemic, is likely permanent. The online channel, including Wolverine’s own e-commerce segment and the online businesses of its wholesale partners, accounted for two-thirds of its $349.1 million in second-quarter revenues, which were down 39 percent year-over-year. E-commerce sales grew 96 percent during the period ended June 27, and were said to be tracking up 50 percent during early weeks of the third quarter as more brick-and-mortar location reopened and wholesale orders spiked positively. The Merrell, Saucony, Wolverine and Cat Footwear brands each posted more than 100 percent online sales growth in the second quarter.

Wolverine Worldwide is forecasting progressive improvement in the third and fourth quarters, normalized closeout sales in the second half as more discount retailers open their doors and solid operating cash flow for the six months. Wolverine’s total inventory was down 5 percent at second quarter end, a period where its Boston Group experienced a nearly 47 percent decline in revenues to $123.0 million and Michigan Group sales slipped 31 percent to $218.9 million.