Delia’s Inc, a marketer to Generation Y, reported net sales for the first quarter increased 17.3% to $49.1 million from $41.8 million one year ago. The quarter ended April 29.
The company credits the increase with an increase in direct marketing sales as well as higher retail sales.
Delia’s president Evan Guillemin said in a statement that sales increases of 13.6% at its direct business were achieved on top of a 17.5% decrease in circulation, representing an increase in sales per catalog of more than 37%. “We believe these results were driven by improvements in the merchandise assortment and creative design of the book, which resulted in better response rates and increased order size,” Guillemin said.
The company also reported a net loss of $8.7 million compared to $2.5 million last year. The net loss includes $5.3 million of losses at Internet subsidiary iTurf compared to $200,000 last year.
