Zale’s annual web sales dazzle
Electronic commerce was a bright spot in an otherwise mixed year for Zale Corp.
For fiscal 2007, Zale is reporting web sales of about $45 million, an increase of almost 80% from web sales of $25 million in fiscal 2006. At the same time Zale, which will report its full-year financials on Aug. 30, expects total year-over-year revenue to remain flat at $2.4 billion. In its preliminary Q4 results, Zale, No. 189 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, also reports that revenues declined to $488 million from $491 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, a decrease of 0.6%.
“We remained focused on maximizing gross margin dollars and maintaining good expense control in a somewhat challenging macro environment,” says Zale CEO Betsy Burton.
But the company is happy with the performance of its e-commerce channel. “We were very pleased with the performance,” says Zale treasurer David Sternblitz. “We increased customization through a design-your-own-ring functionality and added Gordons.com as an additional site. The opportunity going forward is to fine-tune and maximize functionality within the current sites.”
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