Web Hosting E-Commerce Firm, iMergent, Revamps Sales Force, Operations
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Orem, Utah - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - January 15, 2008 - E-commerce web host, software and services provider for small businesses and entrepreneurs, iMergent, Inc., has streamlined its sales force and operations, reporting StoresOnline Express successes at initial preview sessions.
As a result, the company expects to reduce operating expenses by approximately 15-20 percent and to incur an associated charge in the second fiscal quarter of less than $50,000. Management also reported the initial statistics for the StoresOnline Express October and November preview sessions. Express workshops have experienced a higher percentage of buying units upgrading to the StoresOnline Pro software compared to close rates of 26 percent in the quarter ended September 30, 2007 and 25 percent for the quarter ended December 31, 2006. The company plans to offer StoresOnline Express at about 30 percent of all preview sessions by the end of January 2008 and at all preview sessions by the end of March 2008.
Don Danks, CEO of iMergent noted, ”Over the past several years, iMergent’s primary goal has been to aggressively grow sales of our flagship product StoresOnline Pro and become the leading provider of superior eCommerce software solutions. With StoresOnline Express, we are expanding our core business to reach a greater audience, which requires new marketing tactics as well as new curriculum at the preview sessions. We are excited about our enhanced business model as StoresOnline Express buyers are now able to ‘test drive’ our software before attending workshops. The initial results of Express sales and higher Pro close rates have inspired us to expedite the roll out of the Express sales model.”
Mr. Danks added, ”The streamlining of our sales force is driven by the launch of StoresOnline Express. While reviewing our implementation plan, we determined we needed specific expert speakers and a smaller number of sales teams to roll out Express. Also, we intend to visit targeted markets less frequently than in the recent past to cultivate greater pent-up demand. Hence, we will need fewer speakers and have reduced the number of preview teams from 32 to approximately 18-20 and workshop teams from nine to six. Additionally, we have decreased the event and travel support staff and general administrative staff accordingly. The overall staff reduction is approximately 20 percent of our employee base, which is expected to deliver savings of approximately $1.0 million annually in addition to commissions associated with reduction of our sales force.”
Brandon Lewis, President and COO of iMergent remarked, ”Our employees are extremely valuable to the company; therefore, this was a very difficult yet necessary action. We have reaffirmed our commitment to StoresOnline merchants and preserved our customer service and engineering teams that support our customers today and build our future. Additionally, we will maintain our scalable infrastructure to support future hires, when appropriate. While a smaller sales base will lower our top-line expectations, we are confident this retrenchment will improve operating margins and the company’s long-term potential to grow profitability.”
Mr. Danks continued, ”We expect our actions will have a positive impact on iMergent’s future bottom line. However, due to our streamlined sales force, lower than expected sales and our continued absence from California and North Carolina markets, we are revising our previously reported guidance of 10-15 percent increase over 2007. Fiscal 2008 expectations of revenues and net dollar volume of contracts written will decrease 15-20 percent over fiscal 2007 revenue of $151.6 million and net dollar volume of contracts written of $165.3 million. We remain committed to our continued growth and believe these changes will increase the volume of people activating websites and thereby increase recurring revenue as well as open potential new sales channel opportunities. The market continues to grow, according to AMI-Partners, home-based businesses are expected to spend around $35 billion in 2008, up approximately 7 percent from 2007. We believe with a leaner infrastructure, iMergent is better positioned to build upon our core strengths, to advance our strategic vision and to deliver value to shareholders. At this point in time, the board has elected to continue to pay the quarterly cash dividend of $0.11 per share on the company’s common stock. Additionally, from September 30, 2007 through December 19, 2007, the company has repurchased 220,800 shares for approximately $3.4 million, bringing the total shares purchased since the program commencement in August 2006 to over 1,040,805 shares for approximately $20.1 million. The company intends to maintain its policy of opportunistically repurchasing shares.”
iMergent provides eCommerce solutions to entrepreneurs and small businesses enabling them to market and sell their business products or ideas via the Internet. Headquartered in Orem, Utah, the company sells its proprietary StoresOnline software and training services which are designed to help users build successful Internet strategies to market products, accept online orders, analyze marketing performance, and manage pricing and customers. In addition to software, iMergent offers site development, web hosting and marketing products. iMergent typically reaches its target audience through a concentrated direct marketing effort to fill Preview Sessions, in which a StoresOnline expert reviews the product opportunities and costs. These sessions lead to a follow-up Workshop Conference, where product and technology experts train potential users on the software and encourage them to make purchases. iMergent, Inc. and StoresOnline are trademarks of iMergent, Inc.
For more information about iMergent, please visit: www.imergentinc.com.
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