The bad economy tore a hole in online apparel retailer Bluefly Inc.’s first quarter sales.
For the quarter, web sales for Bluefly, No. 128 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, declined by 21% to $19.9 million from $25.2 million in the first quarter of 2008 while the company’s net loss year over year remained the same at $2.9 million.
The average order size decreased 9% to $249.99 in the first quarter of 2009 from $273.65 in the first quarter of 2008. “We anticipated reduced sales and margin for the first quarter, given the current economic environment, and we were able to limit our operating loss by reducing our expenses,” says Bluefly CEO Melissa Payner.
In the first quarter Bluefly reduced its market expenses, which represented 15% of total sales, by 14.5% to $3.01 million from $3.52 million. Spending on fulfillment, 22% of total sales, was reduced by 13.2% to $4.39 million from $5.06 million. Bluefly added 46,605 customers in Q1 compared with 56,855 in the prior year.
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