Retail

E-commerce boosts Lululemon’s bottom line

Balanced position It may be a stretch to shut down Vancouver's Burrard Street Bridge on International Yoga Day, but Lululemon yogawear is moving (its product) well. The company announced Tuesday that for the first fiscal quarter ended May 3, 2015, net revenue increased 10 per cent to $423.5 million from $384.6...

By Felicity Stone /
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THE#BCBIZDAILY
Plus, Telus shutters Blacks photography stores and toxic waste returns to sender

Balanced position
It may be a stretch to shut down Vancouver’s Burrard Street Bridge on International Yoga Day, but Lululemon yogawear is moving (its product) well. The company announced Tuesday that for the first fiscal quarter ended May 3, 2015, net revenue increased 10 per cent to $423.5 million from $384.6 million the same time last year. Much of that came from e-commerce sales: direct-to-consumer net revenue increased 27 per cent to $83.6 million—accounting for 19.7 per cent of total company revenue. Gross profit for the quarter increased by five per cent to $205.9 million. Revenue was higher than expected, said Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin in a press release, adding, “To support our long term goals, we are intentionally striking a strategic balance between strong growth and investments within innovation and infrastructure.”

Blacks to fade
Telus, which purchased the Blacks photography chain in 2009, is closing all 59 stores throughout Canada in August. Although Blacks had launched a photo management website and a photo app, it wasn’t enough to be profitable in a changing world. Its 485 employees will be offered jobs at Telus or Koodo, or receive a transition package. Headquartered in Toronto, Blacks sold appliances when it was founded in 1930, opening its first specialty camera store in 1948. (via Financial Post)

What goes around
Who hasn’t been tempted to throw something in the trash instead of recycling? Even recycling companies sometimes cut corners. Surrey business owner Sai Feng Guan and her now-defunct company, Electronics Recycling Canada, have been fined $40,000 for illegally shipping lead acid batteries and nickel cadmium batteries to China despite a warning from Environment Canada. Operating out of a Newton warehouse under the sign “Help us protect our environment,” the company shipped the batteries to Macau, mistakenly thinking it was not subject to the Basel Convention on transferring hazardous waste. Luckily for the environment but not for Guan, the containers wound up in Hong Kong, which sent them back to Canada. (via Surrey Now)