No Lazy Last Days of Summer for Retail Catalogers

WHILE AUGUST sales among a sample of retailers were lackluster, those with separate catalog divisions showed stronger results during the last full month of summer over 1997 figures.

For example, Aurora, IL-based Successories had a sales increase of 12.1% for comparable stores (those open at least a year). Its August catalog sales, however, were up 23.8%.

Similarly, at The Sharper Image, San Francisco, catalog and Internet sales drove a 7% overall sales increase, from $12.8 million in 1997 to $13.6 million.

At The Sharper Image, total store sales actually fell 3%, from $9.9 million to $9.6 million, while catalog sales jumped 42%, from $2.8 million to $4 million. Internet sales, a relatively new channel fed by both the company’s Web site (www.sharperimage.com) and a targeted outbound e-mail marketing program, boasted a 227% increase in sales as the efforts ramped up.

J.C. Penney, Plano, TX, had August store revenue of $1.27 billion, a 3.8% decrease from $1.32 billion a year ago. Part of its decline was due to weakness in newly opened stores: Comparable store sales dropped only 2.4%.

But the catalog division had a 5.9% increase in sales, from $269 million in August 1997 to $285 million this August.

Saks Holdings, New York, the holding company for Saks Fifth Avenue, had 10.9% growth in total sales, with a 7.1% boost in comparable store sales. “During the month of August, our Full-Line, Resort and Main Street stores posted a sales increase of 4.9%. In addition, our Off 5th [stores] and Folio [direct mail] divisions posted double-digit sales increases,” said chairman/CEO Philip B. Miller in a statement.

While Spiegel, Downers Grove, IL, did not break out its catalog vs. retail sales, the company’s total net sales of $177.3 million in August 1998 were down 6% from 1997’s $188.8 million. However, “catalog sales in all divisions continued to meet expectations,” according to a statement from the company.

Stores that do not break out their catalog operations had mixed changes in revenue levels from August 1997.

Claire’s Stores’ revenue went up 29% overall, from $45 million to $58.1 million (owing largely to an increase in stores). Same-store revenue for the Pembroke Pines, FL firm rose 8%.

Intimate Brands, the Columbus, OH company that operates the Victoria’s Secret catalog, had August sales of $234 million, a 3% improvement from last year’s $227 million. Comparable store sales increased 2%.

The Talbots, Hingham, MA, had an August-to-August revenue increase of 6%, growing from $57.6 million to $61.1 million, despite comparable store sales falling off 3.7%.