U.S. web sales grow 16% for QVC in Q3

As the result of a stock spinoff between Liberty Media Corp. and Liberty Interactive Corp., TV and web retailer QVC Inc. has a new parent. But it was still business as usual online for QVC in the third quarter.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, QVC, No. 8 in the Internet Retailer Top 500, reported these results:

• Internet Retailer calculates that U.S. e-commerce revenue increased 15.9% to $422.1 million from $364.1 million in Q3 2010. QVC says the web accounted for 35.3% of total U.S. sales in Q3 compared with 31.2% in the prior year. QVC does not break out international e-commerce metrics.
• Total sales increased 6.8% to $1.89 billion from $1.77 billion.
• U.S. sales increased 1.7% year over year to $1.19 billion from $1.17 billion.
• Total overseas sales increased 14.2% year over year to $690.0 million from $604.0 million.
• Total sales for Liberty Interactive’s remaining e-commerce business, which includes Provide Commerce Inc., Backcountry.com Inc., Bodybuilding.com LLC, Celebrate Interactive Holdings Inc. and other subsidiaries, grew year over year about 25.4% to $247.0 million from $197.0 million.
• Total Liberty Interactive revenue reached $2.13 billion, up 8.1% from $1.97 billion in the third quarter of 2010.
• Net loss was $7.0 million compared with net earnings of $194.0 million in the prior year.

On Sept. 23, QVC was included in a stock spinoff by former parent Liberty Media. As a result of the split, Liberty Interactive is now a separately traded public company that owns and operates QVC. Liberty Media is now a public company that owns and operates or maintains an interest in Starz LLC, Atlanta National League Baseball Club Inc., TruePosition Inc., which has a stake in SiriusXM, Live Nation and Barnes & Noble, and Time Warner Inc. and Viacom.

For the first nine months:

• Internet Retailer calculates that U.S. e-commerce revenue increased 15.3% to $1.28 billion from $1.11 billion in the first three quarters of 2010. Internet Retailer also calculates the web accounted for 35.5% of total U.S. sales in Q3 compared with 31.7% in the prior year. QVC does not break out international e-commerce metrics.
• Based on earlier financial reports, Internet Retailer calculates that total sales for QVC grew 7.1% to $5.89 billion from $5.50 billion while U.S. sales increased 3.1% to $3.61 billion from $3.50 billion.
• Total sales increased 6.8% to $1.89 billion from $1.77 billion.
• Total sales for Liberty Interactive’s remaining e-commerce businesses weren’t broken out.
• Total Liberty Interactive revenue reached $6.53 billion, up 8.1% from $6.04 billion in the first three quarters of 2010.
• Net earnings grew 4.3% to $661.0 million from $634.0 million compared in the prior year.

“Our e-commerce worldwide revenue grew 19% and revenue from new customers grew 29% in the U.S., representing our highest growth rate since 2009,” says QVC CEO Mike George.