E-mail marketing and a growing opt-in list played a significant role in helping Coldwater Creek Inc. increase its web sales by 46% in the second quarter to $38 million from $26 million from the same quarter in 2004.
“The Internet showed especially strong growth in the second quarter offsetting the decline in catalog sales and resulting in an overall increase in direct segment net sales of 19%,” CEO Dennis Pence told Wall Street and retailing analysts on a recent Q2 earnings conference call. The increase in web sales was by helped specifically by effective e-mail marketing campaigns and a growing opt-in list of about 2.5 million names, Pence says.
With a growing e-mail marketing database, Coldwater Creek, No. 50 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, is also using the Internet and segmented e-mail campaigns to drive more traffic to its growing network of more than 100 stores. “The e-mail list shows that more than 62% of customers live within 30 miles of a Coldwater Creek retail location,” Pence says. “We continue using our e-mail list to drive store traffic and highlight special events.”
In the second quarter, the Internet represented 25% of total sales of $154.6 million. In comparison the web accounted for 23% of total sales of $111.2 million for the second quarter of 2004. “The web showed that it's achieved an impressive traction during the recent quarter and held its fair share of the overall business,” Georgia Shonk-Simmons, president and chief merchandising officer, told analysts on the conference call.
In the second quarter, Internet site traffic exceeded 8.4 million visits, up 46% from the same quarter in 2004, the company says.
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