More customers help Vitacost.com boost sales 30% in Q3

New customers, orders shipped and online sales were all up in the third quarter for health and wellness products e-retailer Vitacost.com Inc.

For the period ending Sept. 30, Vitacost, No. 86 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide (learn more about The Guide: ), reported:

• Online sales of $82.22 million, a 30% increase compared with $63.46 million in the third quarter of 2011.
• Net loss of $5.1 million compared with a net loss of $5.3 million in Q3 2011.
• Total number of active customers on Vitacost.com increased 30.3% to 1.59 million at the end of the quarter from 1.22 million last year.
• Total number of new web customers increased 59.5% to 236,000 from 148,000.
• The number of online orders shipped increased 30.1% to 1.08 million from 830,000.

Vitacost says a greater emphasis on new customer acquisition, including an expanded affiliate marketing program, contributed to the growth in active customers and orders shipped during Q3. Also, the merchant’s Refer-A-Friend program and launch of product sales on the Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1) marketplace in the second half of last year boosted sales for first-time customers.

“We delivered another quarter of strong growth,” says CEO Jeffrey Horowitz. “Going forward, we remain focused on continuing to grow our customer base and improving the efficiency of our fulfillment operations.”

Year-to-date, Vitacost.com also reported:

• Net sales increased 27.2% to $245.7 million from $193.1 million in the first three quarters of last year.
• Net loss was $16.0 million, compared with $11.3 million last year.