Web sales slip for 1-800-Flowers.com

The 2010 fiscal year ended on a sour note for 1-800-Flowers.com Inc.

For the fiscal year ended June 27, 1-800-Flowers.com, No. 40 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reported:

• E-commerce sales declined 5.7% to $469.9 million from $498.5 million in fiscal 2009.
• Total revenue decreased year over year 6.5% to $667.7 million from $713.9 million.
• Consumer floral revenue declined 7.3% to $366.5 million from $394.8 million in fiscal 2009.
• Gourmet food and gift sales decreased year over year 7.2% to $239.9 million from $258.7 million.
• Net loss from consolidated operations was $4.2 million compared with a net loss of $98.4 million in the prior year.

"Throughout fiscal 2010, consumer discretionary spending continued to be impacted by the uncertainty in the macro economy,” says CEO Jim McCann. “As a result, total revenue and profitability were below our expectations for the fiscal fourth quarter and the full year, particularly in our core consumer floral business category."

Internet Retailer calculates e-commerce accounted for 70.4% of total sales in fiscal 2010, compared with 69.8% in the prior year.

For the fourth quarter, 1-800-Flowers.com reported:

• E-commerce sales declined 5.6% to $130.4 million from $138.1 million in Q4 of fiscal 2009.
• Total revenue decreased year over year 4.1% to $165.4 million from $172.5 million.
• Consumer floral revenue declined 5.4% to $117.3 million from $124 million in Q4 of fiscal 2009.
• Gourmet food and gift sales decreased year over year 1.2% to $32.4 million from $32.8 million.
• Net loss from consolidated operations was $5 million compared with a net loss of $22.2 million in the prior year.

"During fiscal 2011, we plan to further invest in these initiatives in combination with additional efforts underway to broaden our product offerings and expand the business channels in which we operate,” says McCann. “We believe the steps we are taking now will provide additional leverage to drive improved top and bottom line performance as the economy improves and thereby enable us to emerge from the current challenging economy with an even stronger position as the world's leading florist and gift shop.”

In Q4, Internet Retailer calculates e-commerce accounted for 78.8% of total sales in fiscal 2010, compared with 80.1% in the fourth quarter of prior year.