Bluefly’s Strong Year Capped By Weak Quarter
Bluefly Inc., an online retailer of designer brands, generated $95.8 million in sales during 2008, up from $91.5 million a year earlier. The company trimmed its net loss from $15.8 million in 2007 to $11.3 million. The year ended Dec. 31.
The company’s gross margin ticket up from 35.8% to 37.1%, largely due to an increase in average order size. In 2007, the average order amounted to $276.58, while in 2008 the average order was $279.72.
Fourth quarter results weren’t as positive, however. Revenue dropped from $29.7 million in fourth-quarter 2007 to $27.4 million during the last quarter of 2008. And average order size slipped from $274.38 to $271.98, largely due to the overall economic deterioration.
“While we continually strive to increase revenues, we are pleased with our performance during the fourth quarter, particularly given the economic downturn and the performance of some of our direct competitors.” said Melissa Payner, Bluefly’s CEO, in a statement. “We believe that as an online pure play we provide a compelling value proposition in this new and challenging economy.”
The Bean-Counter’s Take: Yes, the average order size up for the year, but the total number of orders jumped by more than 12,000 between 2007 and 2008. But here’s something that’s down – marketing expense, which was $16.1 million in 2007 and which dropped to $14.5 million in 2008. In 2006, marketing expense was closer to 2008’s level — $14.2 million. The question, therefore, is how much of 2008’s revenue, especially in the early part of the year, was due to 2007 marketing, and what will 2009 look like, given the reduction in marketing seen in 2008?
