J. Crew's Internet strategy is working

J. Crew Group Inc. earlier this year adopted a strategy of migrating customers from its catalog to its web site. The strategy is working. J. Crew reported that catalog sales in the third quarter declined $9 million as a result of customers moving to the web. Its J. Crew Direct segment, which includes the J. Crew Catalog and jcrew.com, had revenue of $61.8 million in the fiscal 2000 third quarter compared to $61.6 million in the fiscal 1999 third quarter. Internet sales rose 54% from the year-ago quarter to $26.5 million. Revenues for the entire company were $194.8 million for the fiscal 2000 third quarter, up 11.7% from revenues of $174.4 million in the fiscal 1999 third quarter. "We continue to successfully execute our long-term growth strategy. Growth in our retail stores combined with the migration of catalog sales to the Internet contributed to another quarter of solid results for J. Crew," said Mark Sarvary, CEO. J. Crew operates 105 retail stores, a catalog business, the jcrew.com online business, and 41 factory outlet stores.