Replacements` web sales rise to 22% of all sales

Consumers searching for replacement pieces for their china, silver and crystal are taking to the web, reports Replacements Ltd.

Sales originating at Replacements.com jumped from 17% of all sales in the first 11 months of the year to 22% in December, says director of sales and marketing Jack Whitley. Sales originating on the web reflect both sales on click-through from targeted e-mails the company sends to regular customers, plus sales generated from web leads – affiliate programs with other sites. The dollar value of sales generated through the web and web leads – more than $2 million, or about 32% of the month’s total sales – cost the company only about $34,000 in online ad expenditures, adds Whitley.

In December, user sessions at Repalcements.com rose to 638,503, a 55% gain over December 2000, while it served up more than 4 million pages for the month, a 49% gain over a year earlier. In November, Greensboro, NC-based Replacements added daily price update information for the 5,000 top patterns listed on its web site using staff and technology already in-house at no additional cost, Whitley says. The company will extend daily price updates on the web to an additional 5,000 patterns in February, he adds.