Diamond jewelry, such as bracelets, earrings and necklaces sold well

Company Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG), a retailer of jewelry in the world's largest diamond, reported that its sales in the first quarter amounted to $ 1 403.4 million, up $ 175.5 million or 11.1% lower compared with the first quarter last year, while sales in comparable stores decreased by 11.5% compared to last year. The number of transactions declined in all divisions due to reduced attendance physical stores. Product sales of product categories and collections were generally lower in the first quarter, but sales of e-commerce, as well as sales in the division Piercing Pagoda, increased in comparison with the previous year. Diamond jewelry, such as bracelets, earrings and necklaces sold well compared to the overall portfolio of products. E-commerce sales in the first quarter were $ 81.0 million, up $ 0.9 million or 1.1% increase compared to $ 80.1 million in the first quarter of last year.
Gross profit was $ 491.2 million or 35.0% of sales, up 300 basis points less than in the previous year. This decrease is due mainly to lower sales, which led to a decrease in leverage of fixed costs, partially offset by higher total profit of divisions Sterling and Zale.
Commenting on first quarter results, Mark Layt (Mark Light), Chief Executive Officer of Signet Jewelers, said: "As expected, we had a very slow start to the year as the ongoing difficulties in the retail environment in general, compounded by the slowdown of household spending on jewelry, company-specific problems. "
"We continue to take decisive action to adapt our business to the current challenging retail environment and to position our company for long-term growth. It is important to note that during the quarter we improved our online platform and continue to accelerate our efforts in the field of digital marketing, which led to a noticeable continuous improvement of our work in e-commerce. We also made important changes to our organizational structure and strengthened our team to advance our strategic plan until 2020 and increase efficiency. On the basis of progress made to date in the framework of our strategy to give priority to the customer in all areas and a number of initiatives currently being implemented, we expect that the company's results in the reporting year will be within the previously announced plans, "- said Chief Executive Director of Signet Jewelers.