Celebrate Express Q3 web sales increase slightly as total sales decline

Web sales for Celebrate Express Inc., an online and catalog retailer of party supplies, costumes and related items, grew 2.94% year-over-year in the fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28 while total revenue decreased by 11%.

Q3 e-commerce revenue rose to $13.3 million vs. $12.9 million a year ago. At the same time Celebrate Express also reported Q3 net sales of $16.7 million, a decrease of 11% from $18.8 million during the same period last year. Q3 net loss was $137,000, compared with a net loss of $398,000 a year ago.

“During the third quarter we launched a new user-interface for our web site with improved navigation and search capabilities, which has led to increased conversion rates and more of our total business coming in online creating operating leverage,” says CEO Kevin Green. “We are now beginning to feel the momentum of many of our key initiatives and remain confident in the Celebrate Express business model."

During the quarter just ended, Celebrate Express, No. 173 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, attracted approximately 118,000 new customers, compared with 128,000 in the same quarter of the prior year. Q3 net sales per order were $80.15, compared with $83.69 in the year-earlier period.

80% of net sales in Q3 came from e-commerce vs. 69% in the same quarter of the prior year.