E-commerce sales at Liberty Interactive Group, including online retailers QVC.com, Proflowers.com and Backcountry.com, rose 15% to $546 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up from $475 million a year ago, as overall sales for the group fell 6% to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion, Liberty Interactive says.
E-commerce sales for Q1 rose to 30% of total sales at Liberty Interactive from 25% in the year-ago period, the company says.
The company, a unit of Liberty Media Corp., attributes the decline in Q1 revenue to a 10% year-over-year drop in sales to $1.6 billion from $1.76 billion at TV shopping channel QVC, including a 10% drop in U.S. QVC revenue to $1.1 billion.
Liberty Interactive, No. 11 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reports revenue for QVC separately from its other e-commerce operations. Q1 revenue at retail site QVC.com rose 6% to $308 million from $290 million in the year-ago quarter, as QVC.com’s revenue rose to 28% of QVC’s total revenue from 24%, the company says.
QVC president and CEO Mike George says QVC is responding to an overall reduction in consumer spending by modifying its product mix and continuing to invest in technology infrastructure. “QVC continues to strategically invest in infrastructure technology enhancements that will enable us to improve the overall customer experience while maintaining a proactive approach to cost control, inventory management and credit extension,” he says.
At Liberty Interactive’s other e-commerce properties, which are web-only operations, aggregate Q1 revenue was $238 million, up 29% from $185 million a year ago. Liberty does not report revenue separately for these other properties, which include Bodybuilding.com and costumes retailer BuySeasons in addition to sports gear merchant Backcountry and floral and gifts retailer Provide Commerce. The increase in revenue in this group was “primarily driven by strong organic growth at all e-commerce” operations, Liberty says.
Last year, Liberty Interactive acquired gifts retailer RedEnvelope and folded it into Provide Commerce, and acquired party supplies retailer Celebrate Express and folded it into BuySeasons.
Back...
