Forget Digital Vs. Print — This Media Startup Lives Only In The Metaverse (mediapost.com)

Second Quarter 2023 Results *Net sales decreased 4.8% year-over-year, to $3.7 billion, with comparable sales down 5.0%. *Gross margin as a percentage of net sales was 39.0%, a decrease of 61 basis points. *Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses increased 1.6% year-over-year, to $1.3 billion. *Operating income was $163 million compared to $266 million in the prior year. *Net income was $58 million. This compares to net income of $143 million. *Inventory was $3.5 billion, a decrease of 14% year-over-year. *Operating cash flow was $430 million.

•Total Company net sales increased 44 percent compared with the same period in fiscal 2020, during which stores were temporarily closed for approximately half of the quarter. Sales decreased 13 percent relative to the same period in fiscal 2019, and marked sequential improvement of 720 basis points relative to the fourth quarter of 2020. •Digital sales increased 23 percent compared with the same period in fiscal 2020 and increased 28 percent compared with the same period in fiscal 2019. Digital sales represented 46 percent of total sales during the quarter. •Gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, of 31 percent increased approximately 2,000 basis points compared with the same period in fiscal 2020, primarily due to lower markdowns and leverage from higher net sales volume. Gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, decreased 260 basis points compared with the same period in fiscal 2019 as a result of deleverage on lower sales and lower merchandise margins, partially offset by permanent reductions in buying and occupancy costs. •Loss before interest and taxes of $85 million decreased from loss of $813 million during the same period in fiscal 2020 primarily due to higher sales volume as well as the decrease in SG&A expense. Last year’s loss included $280 million in charges related to COVID-19.

Outsourced marketing execution provider HH Global today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the Marketing Services division of GBG. The agreement will further strengthen the interactive capabilities of HH Global, following the acquisition of Blueberry Wave in 2019. Existing GBG Marketing Services customers will benefit from the extensive specialist capabilities that HH Global provides. Steve Mattey, Managing Director, Interactive said: “This acquisition strengthens our interactive solutions, supporting our clients’ growing needs for smarter and more advanced marketing execution. We are delighted at the additional marketing technologies and tools this acquisition brings us, as well as the highly skilled team from GBG.” Existing GBG Marketing Services customers will immediately benefit from the extensive specialist capabilities that HH Global provides, across end-to-end marketing execution services.