E-commerce drives sales for The Children’s Place

It was easily the web that came through as the growth driver for The Children’s Place Inc. in the first quarter.

For the quarter ended May 1, The Children’s Place, No. 123 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reported:

• Web sales increased 21.7% to $34.19 million from $28.1 million in the first quarter of 2009.
• Total sales rose year over year 5% to $422.1 million from $401.9 million.
• Comparable-store sales declined 1.7% in the U.S. and 4.6% in Canada.
• Net income increased 18.7% to $27.9 million from $23.5 million.

"We delivered record financial results and made significant progress on key initiatives in the first quarter of 2010," says CEO Jane Elfers. “We accelerated our new store openings, sharpened our marketing programs and continued to drive double-digit online growth

 Internet Retailer calculates the Internet accounted for 8.1% of total sales compared with 7% in the first quarter of 2009.