Berkshire Hathaway-owned See’s Candies delivers document first quarter, e-commerce development explodes
See’s Candies from Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A), the 100-year-old maker and seller of chocolates, lollipops, toffee and Warren Buffett’s favorite treat – peanut brittle – had the best quarter ever in 2021 earlier in the year, according to CEO Pat Egan.
“We are fully back, I think. We had our best January ever, our best February ever, we just finished our best first quarter ever, ”Egan told Yahoo Finance ahead of Berkshire Hathaway’s 2021 annual meeting, streaming exclusively on Yahoo Finance.
Egan, who took the helm of See’s Candies in the spring of 2019 and is the third CEO in the company’s history, described the past year as “the longest decade” of his life, when the famous candy retailer survived the COVID-19 crisis.
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When the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States last March, See closed all of its 245 stores in a matter of days, and shortly after closed its e-commerce fulfillment center in southern California.
“From that point on, we just said, ‘We’re not going to reopen any stores or our factories until we can create a safe operating environment for all of our employees.’ That took a while and when we restored at the end of summer we saw customers come back. But it was pretty tough for that time, “added Egan.
PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 25, 2019: A man pushing a stroller stops outside a See’s Candies shop in Palm Springs, California. Founded in Los Angeles in 1921, the company is now headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company has been owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Corporation since 1972. (Photo by Robert Alexander / Getty Images)
Amid pandemic bans and stay-at-home orders, See’s Candies’ e-commerce business grew by about 70% in total packages shipped last year. In addition, online sales have remained robust even with reopenings.
“”[What] you might expect that when the stores open again [e-commerce] would wear off a little. It has not. In our first quarter, we were up nearly 160% from the first quarter of last year. ”
Egan noted that in-store traffic was gradually decreasing, but the company was “almost back to 100%”.
The story goes on
“But our e-commerce, which has more than doubled, has actually stayed at that level, and we are okay with it not coming back to earth. It presents some other operational challenges, but we have definitely expanded our customer base. ”Egan added.
Julia La Roche is a correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her up Twitter.
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