E-commerce sales wilt for 1-800-Flowers.com in Q1

It was a soft start—e-commerce and otherwise—for 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. in the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2011 ended Sept. 27, 1-800-Flowers.com, No. 40 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reported:

• E-commerce sales declined 4.8% to $71.2 million from $74.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
• Total revenue decreased year over year 3.5% to $104.5 million from $108.3 million.
• Consumer floral revenue declined 7.9% to $62.6 million from $68 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
• Gourmet food and gift sales increased year over year 0.7% to $26.9 million from $26.7 million.
• Net loss was $5.1 million compared with a net loss of $7.3 million in the prior year.

“During the quarter we continued to execute on our programs to manage our operating expenses, which were essentially flat compared with the prior year period,” says CEO Jim McCann. “We accomplished this while continuing to innovate and invest for the future across a number of initiatives that we believe will help drive growth in the years ahead.”

Internet Retailer calculates e-commerce accounted for 68.1% of total sales in fiscal 2010, compared with 69.1% in the prior year.