Direct sales among a select group of retailers showed strength in April, with Internet and catalog sales playing an increasingly important role in their revenue mixes.
Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores, which has begun breaking out direct-to-customer sales in its monthly figures, showed $142 million in direct sales, compared against $1.11 billion for department store sales. Much of these sales came from Federated’s recent acquisition of Fingerhut, as well as its Bloomingdales’ By Mail, Macy’s By Mail, and Macys.com subsidiaries. The company did not report direct sales in its April 1998 figures.
Despite softness in its department stores, J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Plano, TX, had April sales of $2.34 billion, up 6.7% from $2.194 billion in April 1998. The growth was lead by 17.5% revenue gains by its Eckerd Drugstore units, from $785 million to $922 million, and a $13.4% jump in its Direct Marketing Services division, from $82 million to $93 million. The company’s catalog division saw its revenue increase 5.3%, from $243 million to $256 million, while its department stores had a 1.4% drop in revenue, from $1.084 billion to $1.069 billion. The company did not break out revenue figures for comparable stores, but did indicate that sales were off 0.2% over the year.
Spiegel Inc., Downers Grove, IL, had sales for the four weeks ended May 1, of $190.8 million, a 5% increase from $182.1 million a year earlier. In a statement that accompanied its April sales figures, the company said that catalog sales showed “particular strength ” for the month, with its Newport News and Spiegel catalog leading the pack. The company added that its Eddie Bauer and Spiegel divisions “both benefited from significant growth in Internet sales, which continue to increase and make a larger contribution to sales.”
Direct channels were especially strong in April for The Sharper Image, San Francisco. While the company had a total April-to-April sales increase of 21%, from $12 million to $14.6 million, direct sales growth was even stronger. Total store sales grew 17%, from $8.8 million to $10.3 million. But catalog sales, at $4.3 million, were 32% higher than the prior years’ $3.2 million. Catalog sales include $1 million in Internet sales, compared with $164,000 in April 1998.
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