Good morning. This earnings call may contain forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended, including statements regarding, among other things, the company's business strategy and growth strategy. Expressions which identify forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statement is made. These forward-looking statements are based largely on our company's expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and are beyond our control. Future developments and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there could be no assurances that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. The company's call today is supported by a PowerPoint slide deck, which is available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at ir.charlesandcolvard.com/events.
The company will be hosting a Q and A session at the conclusion of the prepared remarks. If you have a question you'd like to submit, please email ir@charlesandcolvard.com. Please note that this event is being recorded. I'd like to turn the conference over to Donald O'Connell, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our third quarter fiscal 2022 earnings conference call. For Q3 fiscal 2022, we delivered $9.8 million in revenue, which represents a 3% increase over Q3 fiscal 2021. This is the third-highest revenue for the quarter ending March 31st in our company's history, and now marks the highest three consecutive quarters by revenue to date of $33.8 million. That amount represents a 14% increase from the year ago period and a 36% increase from the same period in 2020. We're proud to say this is an important milestone, seven consecutive quarters of top-line growth and profitability. We've achieved this momentum by making strategic investments, by expanding our organic and digital marketing efforts, and by making a concerted effort to optimize our technology across our functional areas of the business.
These business decisions continue to be focused in nature, and we feel such investments are necessary to elevate our direct-to-consumer engagement further and expand our brand presence and capture a greater share of wallet. We believe these efforts are key reasons we are gaining traction in our aspiration to become the leader in made-not-mined fine jewelry, creating a unique value proposition as we position ourselves to capture more of the projected lab-grown market opportunity with sales of lab-grown diamond alone now projected to reach $49.9 billion by 2030. Caydia lab-grown diamond sales continue to rise and we're up 141% for Q3 and 256% fiscal year to date. Our Forever One moissanite sales remain strong, up 10% for Q3 and 20% fiscal year to date on charlesandcolvard.com.
As we continued to lean into our direct-to-consumer business, we realized a 22% increase in our charlesandcolvard.com revenue versus the year ago quarter and a 34% increase fiscal year to date. In spite of rising commodity prices and amid challenging global market conditions, our blended margin remains strong at 49% fiscal year to date and 46% comp to Q3 2021. Our cash flow from operations for Q3 was a robust $1.1 million. We delivered $416,000 in income from operations or $339,000 in net income or $0.01 earnings per diluted share.
In addition, we continue to strengthen our cash on hand by 11% from the year ago quarter to $21.9 million, up from $19.7 million the prior year, which is also an 84% increase over our cash position for Q3 fiscal 2020. With all that said, we believe CTHR's share price trading below the book value at the end of Q3 presents an opportunity for us to initiate a stock repurchase program. Today, we announced our intent to buy back up to $5 million in CTHR stock over the next three years. As I mentioned earlier, we continue to make calculated investments in our direct-to-consumer online business segment, which now represents 65% of total sales and website traffic and conversion continue to climb.
Our average order value for Q3 fiscal 2022 was up 5% to last year at $1,200, all presenting an opportunity for long-term gains. In support of that, we continue to balance our inventory composition by broadening our fine jewelry assortment in line with consumer demands. During Q3, we were pleased to launch our new Signature Star, which represents a distinct element of our Signature Floret design. Whether it's our broad bridal and anniversary selection available in both Forever One moissanite and Caydia lab-grown diamonds or our iconic patented Signature Collection, which sales up for Q3, 29% and it's 59% year to date, or our fashion-forward styling, we truly believe we appeal to a broad audience.
As such, we are featured in Vogue, Forbes, Brides, Men's Health, Women's Wear Daily, and recently quoted in CNN Business. With the surge in demand for lab grown diamonds recently making global news, we look forward to additional exposure to come. As we strive to become a global leader in made not mined fine jewelry, we increased our finished jewelry inventory by 37% and decreased our loose jewels inventory by 5% from Q3 fiscal 2021. We believe this puts us in a strong position relative to our competition, meeting our customers' requirements, all despite the increased shipping and logistical constraints, worldwide supply chain issues and global unrest, we have continued to proactively manage our resources to maintain our position in the market. What does this mean?
This means that we will be in a position to continue to fuel any strategic opportunity to reach our consumer directly, control their brand experience and capture the sale. That's not to say that our traditional revenue, which was down 12% to the year ago quarter, though remained up 7% fiscal year to date, doesn't provide for future growth opportunities and remain an integral part of our foundation and an important business segment for us. Matter of fact, we're placing additional emphasis on the trade in support of our distribution of brick-and-mortar partners through increased marketing co-op in order to maintain our Moissanite brand superiority in the market, which we believe generates valuable brand equity across all our sales channels, thereby elevating our overall business.
We recently announced that Cooksong old, the largest wholesale company servicing the jewelry industry in the UK, has now joined our distribution network. We're pleased to have such a strong strategic partner in the UK and Europe to help further expand our brand presence. Additionally, we're excited about our most recent expanded assortments in our drop ship programs on marketplaces and with our brick-and-mortar partners, Helzberg Diamonds and Macy's. We work diligently to maintain our in-stock rates to consistently be at or above 90% in response to customer demand and in compliance with the service level commitments of our marketplace and drop ship partners, thus positioning us for greater conversion opportunities. Although both segments remain important, the dynamics of these businesses are fundamentally different and require distinctively different capital allocations and resources, along with their respective shared services.
We continuously make data driven decisions to support our investment choices, which helps to ensure that we're getting the return on investment that maximizes our ability to drive revenue. While our Q3 sales and marketing spend was up from the year ago quarter, it was down 39% from Q2, evidencing that we manage these levers to adjust spend as the direct to consumer business exponentially grows in proportion to our traditional segment. Look to us to adjust these thresholds as the business shifts and as we build consumer awareness and more customers choose to shop the Charles & Colvard brand directly. I'll provide some additional insights and our go forward direction later on in the call, but for now I'll turn it over to Clint Pete, our CFO, to unwrap the numbers in greater detail. Clint?
Thanks, Don. Today, I'll provide a summary of key financials for our third fiscal quarter and nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022. Additional detail can be found in our earnings press release that we issued earlier this morning and our Form 10-Q, which we expect to file tomorrow. Please note that all percentage comparisons are to the year ago quarter unless specified otherwise. We will begin with revenue. In total, net sales for Q3 2022 totaled $9.8 million versus $9.4 million, or an increase of 3%. For the nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022, net sales totaled $33.8 million versus $29.5 million, or an increase of 14% from the year ago period.
Net sales from the online channel segment, which includes charlesandcolvard.com, moissaniteoutlet.com, marketplaces, drop ship retail and other pure play outlets totaled $6.4 million for the quarter, or an increase of 14%. Online channel net sales for the nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022 increased 19% to $21 million or 62% of total net sales. While net sales from our transactional website, charlesandcolvard.com, increased by 34%. Net sales from our traditional segment, which consists of wholesale and retail customers, totaled $3.4 million for the quarter, a decrease of 12%, representing 35% of total net sales. Net sales for our traditional segment for the nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022 increased 7% to $12.7 million, or 38% of total net sales.
Finished jewelry net sales increased 19% to $7.4 million for the quarter. Finished jewelry net sales for the nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022 increased 26% to $23.6 million, or 70% of net sales, up from 64% of total net sales in the year ago period. Loose jewel net sales decreased 28% to $2.3 million for the quarter. Jewel net sales for the nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022 decreased 5% to $10.1 million, or 30% of net sales. International net sales decreased 23% for the quarter and decreased 6% for the nine-month period ended March 31st, 2022. Moving on, we delivered a gross margin of 46% for Q3 2022, steady to the year ago quarter.
For the nine-month period into March 31st, 2022, gross margins were at 49%. For Q3 2022, in support of our growth initiatives, total operating expenses increased 22% compared to the year-ago quarter. Sales and marketing expenses increased 33% to $2.9 million, and G&A expenses increased 1% to $1.1 million for the quarter. Net income for Q3 2022 was $339,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared with $1 million, or $0.03 per diluted share in the year-ago period. For the nine-month period ending March 31st, 2022, net income was $2.3 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, compared to $4.4 million, or $0.15 per diluted share in the year-ago period.
Diluted net income for Q3 2022 is income tax expense of $78,000 compared to $500 in the year-ago quarter. For the nine-month period ending March 31st, 2022, income tax expense was $485,000 compared to $1,500 for the year-ago period. A weighted average shares outstanding used in the calculation of diluted earnings per share for the quarter were approximately 31.3 million shares at March 31st, 2022, compared to 30.5 million shares at March 31st, 2021. The increase in our weighted average shares outstanding of approximately 800,000 shares was driven by an increase in the options exercised by insiders and issuance of restricted stock to executives. Now let's move on to a snapshot of our balance sheet.
Our liquidity and capital position remained healthy as we ended the quarter with $21.9 million of total cash compared to $21.4 million at our last fiscal year-end, June 30th, 2021, and compared to $21.3 million in the previous quarter, increasing our cash position by $600,000. Our cash flow from operations remains positive at $1.1 million for the quarter. Our working capital increased to $32.5 million at March 31st, 2022, compared to $30.1 million at June 30th, 2021. In terms of other sources of liquidity, we have access to our $5 million cash secured credit facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank. As of March 31st, 2022, and through today, we have not accessed funds from the credit facility.
Inventory as of March 31st, 2022 totaled $32.5 million compared to $29.2 million as of June 30th, 2021. Finished jewelry inventory was $16.4 million compared to $12.3 million as of June 30th, 2021. To maintain stock levels in support of our growing brick-and-mortar, drop ship retail, and direct-to-consumer business requirements. Loose jewels inventory was $16 million compared to $16.8 million as of June 30th, 2021. In summary, we are pleased with our progress and look forward to closing out our fiscal year 2022 soon. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Don.
Internally, for the past nine months, we've been increasing our creative horsepower and capacity to amplify our voice. We have been and remain focused on elevating the consumer experience at every major touch point for the brand, from overhauling the visual and messaging directives, to reskinning our direct-to-consumer web presence, to live streaming opportunities that enable us to interact with our consumers firsthand. In addition, we're excited to report that our 8,000 sq ft state-of-the-art production studio, along with our first retail signature showroom, are both on track to be completed in Q4. Wrapping up, I'd like to take a few minutes to showcase our marketing strategy and vision moving forward. We believe that while in this discerning consumer landscape, it is essential to have a quality product, we also believe that people don't just buy what you sell, they buy what you believe, what you stand for.
This year, we revisited what makes us unique and what it is that we truly believe. Look to us to focus more on articulating that value to the customer and to our shareholders alike, creating a stronger value proposition. We've dedicated the time internally to explore what we stand for as a brand and as a corporation, and are confident that we stand apart in both what we believe and what we create. Here's what we discovered. Charles & Colvard is a brand that is rooted in the values of love, trust, and consciousness. Love, we celebrate every facet of love, for oneself, for one's partner, for the environment, and for each other. Through our product offerings, we seek to redefine the ways in which we can express our love.
Trust is at the very core of our operations, from the origin of our materials, to our people, to our supply chain, to our history of being leaders in the made gemstone category for almost three decades. Consciousness speaks to the fact that we are aware of our collective impact as a corporation on the planet and the industry, and of our responsibility to our customers to constantly seek to be better. As the momentum for conscious consumerism grows and the focus turns towards ESG, we can no longer sit idle at the intersection of ethics and beauty. Consumers demand it. We as a company need to be in a position to respond and to convey what we believe has set us apart from our peers for decades now.
We have found that consumers today have become very vocal about the environmental and social impact of their fine jewelry. They want to know the origins of their diamonds and gemstones and be reassured they're conflict-free, and to be confident in the treatment of workers both at the company they're buying from and downstream. What does this mean? They're embracing the choice we now provide to purchase a piece of fine jewelry that aligns with their values, and lab-grown gemstones can deliver that in a way that mined diamonds simply cannot. As a brand that makes exclusively made, not mined fine jewelry for the conscious consumer, we are committed to using only made, not mined gemstones, delivering 100% recycled precious metals, and offering the highest quality materials and craftsmanship in the market.
For decades, we have been diligently working to revolutionize the industry, and we are proud to be able to make these unique claims today. It is now our time to shine. We continue to bring forward new product that integrates these commitments and reflects what our consumers are looking for. Our goal is to design and deliver incredible fine jewelry with an incredible experience that echoes what we believe in the right channel, at the right place, at the right time. With that, I'd like to turn it back over to the operator to open the lines for questions.
Thank you. We'll now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble the roster. First question comes from Jason Bazinet, BMO Shoot Holdings. Please go ahead.
Good morning. You know, congrats on that continued progress. You mentioned seven consecutive quarters of growth and profit. When you contrast this with the share price, which you kind of mentioned, you know, not reflecting that back all the way below book value now. Just kinda asking it pretty directly, which of those two aspects, the growth and profit, what's your sense of which of those two investors are probably more worried about not continuing and it not being consecutive quarters for both when you know, you report next quarter as you kinda straddle the line between being a growth versus a value stock? Is it that the growth isn't gonna materialize as you're thinking in the current consumer environment?
Is your sense that people are more concerned on just the spending, and you're gonna kinda push the short-term model a little bit too far?
Let me try to understand. Hey, Jason, how you doing? Let me try to understand the question. As it relates to book value, certainly our book value is right around $1.93 a share. We believe that the current rate where we're trading at right now is definitely you know below book. We believe that we're not getting the credit that we deserve for delivering you know kind of the progress and the momentum that we've achieved over the last seven consecutive quarters. That's really important. Secondary, you know, there is definitely a shift in the business where we're looking for growth. We're going after the growth. To the growth investor, you know, we certainly have something there.
Also, we wanted to focus and key in on the value proposition of Charles & Colvard as a brand and the differentiation between us. The fact of the matter that we are you know in the ESG perspective of you know jewelry companies that provide responsible and ethically sourced products, you know we believe we're the leaders. Certainly with our moissanite Forever One gemstones and then our Caydia lab-grown diamonds, it presents a unique opportunity to be able to invest in a company that's really positioned in a place if your ethics and your belief is that you truly want to invest in a company that's mindful of a lot of different things that meets the consumer needs today, then you know we certainly appeal to that consumer long term.
Short term, you know, if people are just looking for, you know, quick results at the bottom line, we're trying to, you know, do a really good job in getting that growth and be mindful of the fact that we wanna maintain profitability. Profitability to us and cash flow is very important, and that's what's helped us build up the cash, you know, in the last seven quarters, you know, to $21.9 million, which now presents an opportunity for us to take advantage of the low share price right now, you know, as a company to be able to, you know, make an investment in ourselves for what we're doing and our accomplishments. As it relates to the value investor, you know, certainly there is still a tremendous cash position of $21.9 million with, you know, no debt.
You know, we haven't exercised our line of credit at this point. You know, we've been, you know, I wouldn't say slow and steady. We've just been responsible, fiscally responsible with our money, with our capital, with our business, growing the business. But make no mistake, our mission and our goal is to, you know, drive shareholder value and grow the business exponentially. If you go back to the seven quarters, you know, we've made significant strides from, you know, coming out of the gate. If you look at the revenue right now at $33.8 million reported this quarter, that beats 2018 revenue, beats 2019 revenue, and beats 2020 revenue. That's currently where we're at without reporting our Q4 and our year-end.
Right.
We're pleased with that. We've got the growth, and we think, you know, that's appealing, you know, at the same time being profitable, you know, across, you know, pretty much across the channels and across the quarters. I don't know if that answers your question, but.
Well, sort of. I guess that.
Did I leave a lot out?
Well, from my perspective, you've kind of done exactly what you're saying you're gonna do, and the stock is not reflecting that. When you speak to investors, what is your sense of which of those people are not believing, I guess, for right now? Because from my perspective, you are doing both of what you're saying you're gonna do.
No, it's not a question of whether they believe or they don't believe, in my opinion. It's a question of whether, you know, we're doing a good enough job in getting the word out. It's a question, you know, whether, you know, people are, you know, seeing who we are and what we're about, and really just understanding the fact that there's an incredible, microcap company out there that's performing incredibly well. For me, by standards of all microcap companies, I think we're outperforming, you know, most, in a lot of ways. You know, basically, if there's a tree growing in the forest, that's my exact, you know, analogy that I use, you know, people, you know, may not hear it or may not see it. Our goal is to be able to continuously to push the word.
You know, we need our investors that are currently in the space to be able to shout out. If you look at the liquidity is not as strong as we would like it to be. Certainly, you know, we need to do a better job in, you know, kind of elevating, you know, kind of CTHR from an investment standpoint and a positioning. We've been mainly focused on really driving the business, driving the growth, and exceeding, you know, our own internal expectations every single day. I do believe moving forward, you know, it's time for us, you know, as we say, it's time to shine. I mean, you know, that's kind of, you know, really important across the board. We just really need to, you know, get the word out there a little bit better.
Okay, great. Well, I appreciate you taking my questions. Thanks.
Okay, great. Thanks, Jason Bazinet.
Thank you. The next question is from Paul Johnson, Private Investor. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Two questions actually. One, just in terms of the shareholder value question. I know management feels like they own a lot of stock, and you do, and so maybe you don't wanna be taken out anymore. If I recall correctly, it's only been Director Allen Sikes who's been buying in a meaningful way over the last year or two. Can you make any comment about perhaps other insiders participating at these crazy levels?
Yeah, sure. You know, in full transparency, not every director or every individual has the means to be able to go into the market and purchase, right, or make investments. You know, everybody, you know, has their own, investment strategy, and everybody has literally their own cash on hand or capital to be able to invest. If you look, you know, recently, you know, Clint Pete, my CFO and myself have just, recently taken on a position, albeit not the strength of Allen Sikes. Allen Sikes, you know, you know, I can't speak on his behalf, but certainly, you know, we're very pleased with his, vote of confidence, you know, in his position. You know, and certainly we have, insiders exercising their options as well as, you know, our directors, exercising across the board.
You know, it's been quite significant from the shift from the moment basically I took over as CEO seven quarters ago.
Okay, fair enough. Secondly, can you talk a little bit just about margins? I joined the conference call late, so maybe you already discussed this, but I just wanted to know in terms of the whole supply chain issue and gross margins, what you're seeing going forward.
Yeah, great question. So our blended margin is actually up 1% year to date from last year. We were at 48% last year. We're at 49% this year. Certainly this quarter, we comped the last year's margin. We did see some margin creep related to, you know, commodity prices that shot up here recently. Certain lab-grown diamond pricing on the smaller goods certainly increased a little bit there. We believe that's gonna stabilize. Certainly commodities and precious metals have stabilized a little bit now and actually dropped down for a little bit around the $1,800s, and now it's teetering a little bit back and forth.
You know, we estimate that we'll get some stabilization, you know, based on the trend that I've been seeing myself and based on, you know, what our insiders are saying about the metal. We believe moving forward, we're gonna be in a good position. We'll be able to stabilize and maintain that. You know, just like everyone else, we'll look at that closely, and we'll make an executive decision to either do pricing increases across the board. I will tell you that shipping costs and expenses also have risen, so that's another factor there to kinda, you know, keep an eye on. One thing we pride ourselves on is free shipping across the board, so we're kind of analyzing all that and making mindful, responsible decisions.
No indications that we will not be able to maintain our blended margin. If there is an indicator there, we will make the adjustments accordingly.
Fair enough. Can you give us an update on your plan to open distribution centers in various countries? I saw the announcement regarding the UK, and there was the previous announcement in China, I believe. Can you give us an update on any possible other expansions?
Yeah. Let me just address those two. The Asia Pac region obviously is having some, you know, difficulties with COVID still, you know, and the pandemic there. We're basically, you know, we're pushing what we can there. We're excited about the international expansion between the UK and Cooksong old just for the mere fact that the international for us has not been the primary focus. You know, since I've taken over, we wanted to be able to own the United States. There's a huge market here, and we think we can capitalize on that market, and we've done so incrementally. We're excited about the European side.
I think for right now, that's where we're gonna bookend between the Asia Pac and Cooksong old in the Europe region and the UK. But that's not to say that we wouldn't look to pull in some other things. We'll wait for the you know kind of the global uncertainty to kind of resolve itself and you know kind of go in the direction it's gonna go before we make any type of decisions with that regard. Hope that answers your question.
It do es. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Paul Zimnisky of PZDA. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking the question. What percentage of your product assortment is proprietary jewelry design versus generic? Second question, I was hoping you could provide some more color on the showroom and the live streaming strategy. Thanks.
Yeah, thanks. So we don't give out the numbers and, you know, kind of the product mix of what we do. What I can tell you that the lab-grown diamond aspect of our business is growing, very nicely, and we're very pleased with that, and we've expanded the assortments, considerably. If you kind of look at our catalog and go on charlesandcolvard.com, you can, you know, essentially, just look at the increase in volume, of styling that's going there. Look to us to increase that even more as the awareness and as the acceptability, starts to increase, which we believe, we're in a great position for. We believe that we've created a destination for all things made, not mined, and that, you know, choice that we offer that consumer is becoming mainstream.
We think that's a really good thing for us. You know, I know you're looking for specific numbers, but at this point, it's a product category for us, so we don't disclose that, but it is incrementally growing pretty much by the day. The customer and the consumer, if you look at our moissanite business, it's still growing by 10%. You look at the growth in the lab-grown diamond business for us, it's grown by 141%. The growth is there.
We started out a little over a year ago, and we had basically a basic assortment, and now we've kind of grown that into from engagement to anniversary to now fashion and look to us to do a lot more in the fashion category. As it relates to our showroom, we, you know, anticipate that we'll get our first signature store opened, you know, sometime here shortly. I'm not gonna give specific timing for that just because of the fact of, you know, constraints between inspections and final certificate of occupancies there. That's the same thing related to our to our digital studio. Let me talk a little bit about the digital studio and what that looks like. That digital studio works as a hub for Charles & Colvard.
We can be self-serving, self-sufficient. We create our own video content, which we believe is the future. We believe that this digital studio, capacity and capability will set us apart from anyone else in this industry. It'll give us the ability to push content, whether it's shoppable video content, whether it's direct response content, whether it's just through TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, whether it's through our own social campaigns. It'll allow us to produce a tremendous amount of content where currently there are limitations and cost, prohibited aspects to bringing that content forward. In today's consumer, you have to be everywhere that consumer is. I know that's a cliché. That consumer is gravitating to video. That consumer wants to interact. It has to be an intuitive, interactive experience.
We believe the studio, which is nearing completion here shortly, will give us an opportunity to phase in more and more content and then eventually get that video shopping capability up and running and the potential for direct response shopping through any means. It could be through DirecTV. It could be through regular cable. It could be through YouTube TV. That's a pretty broad swath there that I gave you, but hopefully we understand that. Going back to the product category with our Signature Collection, which is our proprietary designs and everything, our sales are up 29% on that and 59% year to date. The Signature Collection is very important to us because that's the differentiation between Charles & Colvard and other brands.
We believe that's our advantage, and it also tells the story between the four Cs and the elements of Charles & Colvard and what we're about. It's that red thread that, you know, I hate to use the term, but I'll use your mantra or, you know, a Tiffany thread like, you know, like major brands that we think is resonating with our consumers. That percentage is growing. I don't give that percentage out too as well because it's also a product, but it is growing, and it represents a very significant part of our business now.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thanks.
Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. Next question comes from Matthew Koranda, Roth Capital Partners. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. It's Mike Zabran on for Matthew Koranda. Could you just help us break down online performance in the quarter, specifically as it pertains to own site versus Amazon, and comment on any web traffic or conversion trends you're seeing?
Yeah, sure. Hey, Mike, how you doing? The bottom line is we do break out our online segments. Our C&C, are you talking about our charlesandcolvard.com business itself?
Yes. It just kind of breaking out performance at Charles & Colvard versus Amazon performance and just web traffic, specifically on the own site and any conversion trends you're seeing.
Yeah. Our, you know, overall Charles & Colvard.com, we're up 34% fiscal year-to-date. We're definitely seeing some real improvement there, and that is really kind of what we call the gift that keeps on growing and the gift that keeps on giving. I can tell you that, you know, overall, you know, if you look at our overall revenue at $33.8 million and look at our online business, now 65% of that, and you look at where we reported our online business today, that 34% is just about just shy of last year's full year. That remains very, very strong. We don't publish as far as the Amazon's and the marketplace breakouts between the drop ships.
you know, it basically, you know, it's all about charlesandcolvard.com.
Got it. Okay. Maybe next, just speak to where AOV's ended up in the quarter and how they're impacted by the current mix of lab-grown diamonds that we have.
Going back to also, you know, I think the online business, if you're asking, as far as charlesandcolvard.com, represents 62% of the revenue in our online business right now. Just to give you that specific.
Okay.
Yeah. The AOV-
Got it.
Yeah. Okay. As far as our AOV, we reported that it's $1,200, so we're very excited about maintaining our AOV. We're also excited the fact that on the LGD, even though there are higher ticket items, a lot of our products are in the anniversary band in the fashion category, which helps us maintain, you know, a nice, strong blend of AOV. It's not, you know, I know some of the other, you know, competitors are selling, you know, a lot of large center stones and engagements that skews their AOVs a little bit. But the beauty of what we have going with our AOVs on the return aspect of the business, which we have very low return rates, don't impact the business overall.
We're very pleased with the strength of our AOV at $1,200 right now.
Got it. Last one for me, just on sales and marketing. Last quarter, we called out healthy ROAS metrics and new campaigns. Maybe if you could just provide an update on how these metrics have trended in the third quarter and quarter to date, and speak to which channels have specifically performed the best.
Sure. When we address the ROAS, it's for charlesandcolvard.com. You know, we believe that we've got these levers. We're pulling the levers in the right direction. As the business shifts more, you know, 65% now being the online business and 62% representing Charles & Colvard, you know, certainly we're paying very, very close attention. We're looking at the data every single day. I will tell you that our average ad spend year-to-date right now is about $375. And for the quarter, it's about close to $300. That's basically a reduction. We've been getting a little bit better, increasing our ROAS, increasing our ability to kinda drive, you know, the traffic and conversion, you know, meaningful.
Basically, we've reduced it by, you know, $100+ dollars, average ad spend per customer.
That's per new customer?
Yeah. Thank you, Clint.
Got it. That's helpful, guys. Thank you.
Thank you. Next, we have a follow-up question from Paul Johnson, Private Investor. Please go ahead.
Yes. Can you give an update on the Macy's and Helzberg businesses? In terms of the expenses going forward, so looking at the nine-month figures, revenues were up 14%, which is good, but SG&A was up, like, 40%. Is that something that's gonna be tailing off, or are we gonna continue to see that kind of disparity between the growth and expenses relative to sales?
Yeah. Actually, our spend is down 39% from last quarter. Look to us to make strategic investments. Let's talk a little bit about the businesses first. Macy's remains very, very strong and a great strategic partner for us. Macy's in-store, Macy's online, I could tell you their online business is performing quite well, and we're real excited about that. As we announced here, we've expanded the assortments there on both sides of the house between in-store and as well as online. Helzberg remains really a gem of an account, a gem of a customer and a business for us. It continues to grow, and as the lab-grown movement gets stronger and stronger, so does our business with Helzberg. Helzberg, you know, look to us to continuously grow that business, continuously support it.
We look forward to, you know, continuing that relationship. We're in all the Helzberg doors, albeit they did reduce several doors, you know, through the pandemic, but the strength of the doors that they now have still remains very, very strong, if not even stronger than it was before the pandemic. We're real excited there, and their online business still remains incredibly strong. That's real good.
In terms of the expenses going forward, can you just talk about that?
Yeah. We'll continue to spend specifically to build out resources, right? That's really important to us. As we continue to grow a larger business, you know, certainly, you know, when I took over the business, we were at, you know, basically, you know, less than $30 million and, you know, now we're, you know, we're increasing, you know, even greater. In order to get that incremental growth and the revenue, we need to be able to spend strategically into paid and social campaigns. We need to support the brick-and-mortar partners that I just spoke about between co-op programs. We need to support our traditional, you know, partners with trade. We'll continue to be mindful. We'll continue to spend.
I try not to get caught up in, you know, the increase on SG&A and, you know, what you're looking at. You know, I mean, you're trailing, you know, nine months. We're, you know, basically on a fiscal year to date of the seven months. You pull in our last year, which was the first year I took over as CEO, you know, tremendous growth and improvement there. This year to date, we're seeing the same, but we are incrementally spending as, we're driving the revenue side. We'll be mindful of it. We'll pull the levers as we need, but we have thresholds in place, for, you know, performance-based thresholds related to the ROAS.
As the online business segment starts to become more of an integral part of our business, you know, right now currently representing the 65%, and let's just say that's where the growth is, right? Our traditional remains strong and keeps and maintains itself, but then the true growth is the direct to consumer and as that exponentially grows, it's a different business. That's why I try to call that out during the script today. It's a completely different business and the cost associated with, you know, bringing on the right talent and resources in marketing, in design, in overall collateral and support for that business and actually pushing out in this competitive landscape between paid and search terms and phrases, you know, we're gonna continue to spend there.
Again, still profitable, continue to grow top line, and doing what we need to make this business an incredible business and find the catalyst that gets us to the, you know, $150 million, $100 million, $200 million dollar range.
Fair enough. In terms of the wholesale accounts, is there any possibility with, I don't know, someone like a Dillard's or even a C?
Yeah. Costco is a great name. What we're looking to do is do business with people that are solvent or we think that are really in good financial condition, you know, or presents the financial capability for long term. In short, yes, we're constantly looking at those opportunities, the Helzberg-like opportunities. They're very rare to find right now. You know, certainly we think with Macy's and with Helzberg, we're with the two strongest. Costco has a different kind of business model, where they supply certain components of the pieces. It's a little bit different. Look to us to look for additional, for all intents and purposes, I like to use the term tentacles that can connect to our main vault of inventory. It's a great point.
I appreciate you bringing it up. As many of those tentacles that we can connect to our vault of inventory, the better we are and the more growth we'll see. Look to us to bring on or be aggressive in bringing on more of those online partners to be able to connect the tentacles.
Very good. Thank you.
Thank you.
This concludes our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Don O'Connell for closing remarks. Please go ahead.
On behalf of the entire Charles & Colvard team, I'd like to thank you for your time today and your continued interest in CTHR and looking forward to our fiscal year-end call. Stay tuned for Charles & Colvard's growth and path forward. We're excited, so thank you.