NEW YORK—Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE: WRBY), has announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. Net revenue increased $28.0 million, or 16.3 percent, to $200.0 million, as compared with the prior-year period. The company also announced that average revenue per customer increased 9.6 percent year-over-year to $296 with increased active customer growth of 3.2 percent to 2.36 million. “We anticipate that active customer growth will continue,” said co-founder and co-CEO Neil Blumental in a conference call. The company also opened eight net new stores during the quarter, ending Q1 with 245 stores, and is on track for 40 new store openings this year, according to company executives.

“We entered 2024 with higher ambitions for delivering on our key metrics and are proud of what the team accomplished in Q1. We drove our highest revenue quarter growth since 2021, up 16.3 percent year-over-year, while making significant progress to improve profitability,” said Blumenthal.

“Earlier this year, we set out to reaccelerate both glasses and active customer growth," added co-founder and co-CEO Dave Gilboa. We’re encouraged to see strength in single-vision glasses as well as efficiencies across media channels, driven by our team’s strong marketing execution. In Q2 and beyond, we’ll continue to invest in customer acquisition while scaling our holistic vision care offering to drive higher customer lifetime value.”

Gross margin in the first quarter increased 1.6 points to 56.7 percent, as compared with the prior-year period. Gross profit increased 19.7 percent to $113.5 million  year-over-year. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by faster growth in glasses, the company’s highest margin product, efficiencies in its owned optical laboratories, and lower outbound customer shipping costs as a percent of revenue, partially offset by increased doctor salaries, as the number of stores offering eye exams grew, as did sales growth of contact lenses which are sold at a lower margin, the company said.

GAAP net loss improved $8.1 million to $2.7 million  year-over-year, primarily as a result of the increase in revenue, the company said. Adjusted EBITDA increased $4.6 million to $22.4 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 0.9 points to 11.2 percent. Warby Parker ended the first quarter of 2024 with $220.4 million in cash and cash equivalents.

For the full year 2024, Warby Parker is raising its guidance. The company said it is raising guidance for net revenue to a range of $753 million to $761 million, representing growth of approximately 12.5 percent to 13.5 percent versus full year 2023. Adjusted EBITDA is now $70.0 million at the midpoint of the company’s revenue range, which equates to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.2 percent.

Warby Parker chief financial officer Steve Miller said, “Our Q1 results are evidence of the returns we are starting to see from many of our recent investments. Going forward, we plan to maintain a balanced approach to delivering both efficient growth and incremental profitability.”