Bluefly’s Sales and Losses Rise
Third-quarter sales at New York-based Bluefly, an online merchant of discounted designer apparel and decor, rose 11%, to $18.1 million from $16.3 million. For the three months ended Sept. 30, net loss increased to $5.0 million from a net loss of $3.5 million in the same period last year.
Bluefly’s CEO Melissa Payner explained the financial results in a release: “In an effort to improve the overall customer experience, we began the process of moving to the new third party fulfillment center late in the second quarter. During this transition portions of our inventory were not available for sale to the consumer, which had a significant impact on our revenue growth.”
To further complicate matters, Payner said, ”during the transition we were unable to fulfill all orders completely in a timely manner. This transition had a negative impact not only on our sales, but on our margins and on the overall customer experience. We are continuing to work through the issues and our efforts to provide an improved customer experience.”
Williams-Sonoma Third-Quarter Sales Up 5%
Third-quarter sales for San Francisco-based home products cataloger/retailer Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) increased 5%, to $895.1 million, compared to $852.8 million in the third quarter last year. For the period ended Oct. 28, direct-to-customer (catalog/Internet) sales increased 5%, to $400.9 million, up from $381.9 million. Internet sales rose 17.2%, to $266.3 million, up from $227.3 million in the third quarter last year. Retail revenue increased 5%, to $494.3 million, up from $470.9 million. Same-store sales grew 1.1%.
CEO Howard Lester said in a release: “The home furnishings environment in the third quarter continued to be very challenging, particularly in the areas of the country where housing-related macro issues have had the greatest impact. Despite these challenges, however, we delivered positive top-line growth in all our brands and diluted earnings per share at the high end of our guidance. We are pleased with these results and believe they reflect what is unique about our business model — the strength of our brands, the power of our multichannel strategy, and our proven ability to drive our business in difficult economic times.”
Challenges Continue for Red Envelope
San Francisco-based gifts cataloger Red Envelope reported a net loss of $10.3 million in the second quarter ended Sept. 30. The company recorded a net loss of $3.7 million for the same period last year. Second-quarter sales increased 2.6%, to $15.9 million, up from $15.5 million last year. Net revenue per order grew to $83, up from $78 last year.
Newly appointed CEO John Pound said in a release: “Our second quarter results continue to reflect the challenges of our turnaround. The downdraft created by prior-year policies, in particular, the erosion suffered in our customer file and response rates (due to over-promotion), has proven to be significant (although not unexpected, as reflected by our comments in our May press release). We are working diligently to address key issues that we expect will re-invigorate sales growth and profitability.”