N Brown Revenue Falls as It Shifts to Online Sales

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom — N Brown Group Plc, owner of Simply Be and Jacamo, said on Thursday its first-quarter total revenue fell 3.8 percent, but the British plus-sized fashion group reported a rise in clothes sold online amid its digital push.

N Brown closed its last 20 stores in August and is going back to its roots with its move online. The company, which was founded in 1859, used the development of the postal system in Britain to sell goods directly to customers.

Calling the retail market challenging, the company said product revenue fell 5.4 percent in the 13 weeks to June 1, as it scales back its offline marketing and recruitment.

Jefferies analysts pegged the product sales decline on the company's ongoing transition away from unprofitable offline sales to digital sales.

The retailer also said 83 percent of its total revenue was now digital, with a 3 percent rise in digital revenue in the first-quarter.

By Tanishaa Nadkar, Noor Zainab Hussain; editors: Rashmi Aich, Bernard Orr.