Privately-held apparel retailer and catalog seller L.L. Bean revealed last week that its Web site outstripped its stores and catalog in sales revenue in 2006.
The Freeport ME-based company saw total net sales of $1.54 billion last year in its three channels, an increase of 4.6% over 2005 sales. The company id not required to publish financial results but volunteered the information that online sales increased almost 10% last year over 2005 levels, making the company’s Internet channel the most lucrative for the year.
Bean president and CEO Chris McCormick was quoted in press reports as saying in-store sales rose 14% during the year, while catalog sales declined. He predicted that in the future the company will use catalogs to interest and motivate consumers who then complete their purchases on the Web or at bean retail outlets.
The company said its LLBean.com Web site recorded 73 million visits in 2006, an increase of 13% over the previous year’s traffic, and collected leads on a record 1.7 million new customers, primarily through Internet sales but also through in-store sign-ups.
The retailer predicted back in November 2004 that its online sales would surpass catalog-generated revenue within two years.
2006 revenues were slightly below early projections, due mostly to a warmer-than-expected winter sales season, McCormick said in a press interview. But last year’s sales were still good enough to produce cash bonuses equal to 7.5% of annual pay to more than 4900 eligible Bean employees. Total value of the bonus awards is expected to be about $25.5 million.
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