Merchandise margin in Costume Express brand improves
28 Sep '07
3 min read
First quarter fiscal 2008 highlights • Gross margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 increased 460 basis points from the prior year to 54.7%. • Revenue from the Costume Express brand for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 increased 17% from the prior year. • Fulfillment expense, consisting of costs associated with our distribution center and customer service operations decreased 145 basis points from the prior year to 13.5% of net revenue. • 119,000 new customers were added to the database during the first quarter of fiscal 2008, bringing the total customer file to 3.5 million at August 31, 2007.
The change in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 from the prior year was due in part to a decrease in Birthday Express brand net sales, which were down from the first quarter of the prior year by approximately 9%.
This decrease was primarily due to a reduction in Birthday Express catalog circulation of roughly 17% from the prior year, as the Company focused on reducing unprofitable mailings and reevaluated breakeven points in light of catalog postage cost increases.