Blair makes a bigger push for e-commerce

E-commerce sales at Blair Corp. rose 11% in the third quarter while total sales decreased by 8.7%.

Guide to E-Commerce Technology

For Q3, Blair, No. 95 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites, reported web sales of $20.2 million vs. $18.2 million in Q3 2005. At the same time total sales declined year-over-year to $89.5 million from $98.1 million. Blair also reported a net loss of $1.1 million for Q3, compared with net income of $1.4 million in Q3 2005.

Blair is making a substantial investment, particularly in search engine marketing, to increase web traffic and e-commerce sales. During the third quarter, web site traffic increased 19% over third quarter 2005 levels, while web site conversion rates and average order values remained steady, Blair says. Revenue resulting from investments in keyword searches also rose 62%, and revenue from natural search has nearly doubled following an intensive web site optimization project, according to Blair.

“The year-over-year increase reflects our customer`s interest in migrating to Blair.com and the impact of user experience and technology initiatives designed to improve site functionality and increase conversion rates,” the company says. “In addition, an advanced web analytics package was installed during the third quarter of 2006 to provide the company with more detailed insight into web customer behavior.”

Overall the web represented 23% of all sales in Q3 vs. 19% in the same quarter in 2005. “We are addressing the challenging times within the retail catalog market by continuing to implement initiatives geared to promoting the customer`s buying experience, improving product demand and increasing our operational efficiencies,” says Blair president and CEO John E. Zawacki. “As a result of ongoing strategic efforts, we continue to recognize growth in the area of e-commerce.”