Online sales growth represented 8.1% of the retailer’s overall growth, though only 5% of sales.

The acquisition of competitor Zale Corp. paid off for jewelry retailer Signet Jewelers Ltd. in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 as online sales came close to doubling compared with the same period a year ago.

In its fiscal Q1 2016 earnings filing, Signet reported online sales of $76.9 million, up 98.7% year-over-year from $38.7 million during the same period last year, meaning e-commerce accounted for 5% of the retailer’s overall sales of $1.531 billion during the quarter. Zale, which Signet acquired last year, accounted for 37.2% of all online sales, or $28.6 million, during the quarter.

Signet’s $38.2 million in additional online sales for the quarter represented 8.1% of the retailer’s overall year-over-year growth of $474.5. Signet is No. 125 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide. Signet owns the Kay Jewelers and Jared The Galleria of Jewelry brands in the United States, and the H. Samuel and Ernest Jones brands in the United Kingdom, including the Kay.com and Jared.com e-commerce sites. The Zale purchase added online shopping sites Zales.com and GordonsJewelers.com. Signet now operates about 3,500 stores in the U.S. and abroad.

CEO Mark Light told analysts on the retailer’s Q1 2016 earnings call that customers can expect improvements in the company’s online offerings.

“We are in the process of finalizing our technology road map for the next several years, which will include a single IT function for the enterprise, a roadmap of common technology platforms for us to expand and grow our business and digital experiences that enable us to know our customers intimately, while seamlessly servicing them,” he said, according to a transcript of the call obtained from Seeking Alpha.

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For the three months ending May 2, Signet reports:

  • Net sales of $1.531 billion, up 45.0% from $1.056 billion during the same period last year.
  • Net income of $118.8 million, up 23.0% from $96.6 million during the same period last year.
  • Same-store sales gains of 3.6%, as opposed to a 3.3% gain during the same period last year.
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