Martha Stewart continues to downsize e-commerce
For Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. e-commerce apparently isn’t a good thing. After making a corporate decision to close down large sections of its Internet and direct commerce business a year ago, web sales continue to decline.
In the second quarter of 2005, Martha Stewart reported direct commerce sales of just $2.2 million, compared with sales of $6.4 million in the same period a year ago. While Martha Stewart has historically not broken out its e-commerce revenue, the sales for the second quarter were mostly from the web and reflected the company’s online flower sales, Martha Stewart notes in the company’s second quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For the first six months of 2005, Martha Stewart, which ranks as No. 245 on the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, reported Internet and direct commerce revenues of $5.3 million, which is down 55% from $11.9 million for the first six months of 2004.
The company closed one of its biggest e-commerce and direct marketing business segments, Catalog for Living, in August 2004. Going forward Martha Stewart will concentrate on other growth strategies such as developing a new reality TV show and a new daily lifestyles show, says Susan Lyne, president and CEO.
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