Martha Stewart’s Living Omnimedia Inc. plans to shut down its online store and catalog next month, according to news reports.
The New York company is holding a “final tag sale” on its Web site, www.marthastewart.com. The firm will only sell magazine subscriptions and flowers online after February.
Company spokeswoman Elizabeth Estroff said only a few hundred types of products remain, according to published reports. She also said the Web site would be redesigned in late February to emphasize flower sales, which doubled last year compared with 2003, along with subscriptions.
“The print and online catalog had not been profitable and was not tracking to achieve profitability,” she said.
Industry observers questioned why the firm, , an early entrant in Internet retailing, is throwing in the towel. Others said the company, battered by its namesake’s legal troubles, is attempting to bolster the bottom line by eliminating a money-losing division.
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