AeroGrow (PINK:AEROE) Should Take Advantage of Social Media

Oxford, MS 9/14/2011 (PennyPayDay) – AeroGrow International, Inc. (PINK: AEROE), makers of the AeroGarden line of indoor gardening products, recently announced, in a press release, results for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. AEROE also employs an aggressive e-mail newsletter sales model that seems somewhat effective. Low trading volume though for AeroGrow with just over 12,000 shares traded per day.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, AeroGrow reported revenue of $11.3 million, down 34% from the year ended March 31, 2010. The decline in sales was largely due to a deliberate shift in the Company's business strategy to focus on building its higher-margin direct-to-consumer business and reduce its exposure to the retail sales channel because of the relatively low profit margins and high capital and operational requirements in that channel. This resulted in wholesale sales to retailers declining by almost 70% year-over-year, accounting for more than 80% of the Company's total decrease in sales.

Despite the lower level of sales, the shift to a higher mix of direct-to-consumer sales, combined with a focus on margin improvement efforts, increases in marketing efficiencies, and an almost 40% year-over-year reduction in selling and administrative expenses, led to a significant improvement in the Company's operating loss. AeroGrow reported an operating loss for the year of $3.7 million, a reduction of more than 40% from the operating loss of $6.2 million for the year ended March 31, 2010.

"While we're certainly not satisfied with the operating loss for the year, I'm quite pleased with the progress we made and the acceleration in our performance as the year unfolded," said Mike Wolfe, AeroGrow's President & CEO. "We delivered improvements in many key metrics as we learned to successfully operate a leaner, more focused business, primarily leveraging the direct response sales channels."

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