First-quarter direct-to-consumer sales for apparel and home decor merchant Urban Outfitters increased 4%. That was the good news.
But total sales for the first quarter slipped 2%, to $384.8 million, compared with $394.3 million for the same period last year. The Philadelphia-based retailer’s net income sank 28%, to $30.8 million, down from $42.6 million.
In fiscal 2009, net sales at Urban Outfitters rose 21.7%, to $1.83 billion, from $1.51 billion in fiscal 2008. Direct-to-consumer net sales for fiscal 2009 were up 32.4%. The company’s direct-to-consumer business includes the Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters catalogs.