Online Gift Growth Slows
Web sales by the 21 flowers and gifts merchants ranked in Internet Retailer’s 2008 Top 500 Guide rose 11 percent to $1.35 billion, from $1.21 billion in 2006. While those numbers look pretty good compared to overall retail growth — the National Retail Federation is predicting practically no gain over the holidays — combined sales for all the online retailers in the Top 500 Guide grew by 21.6 percent to $101.7 billion. Total online retail sales rose by 21.8 percent, to $165.9 million.
In 2007, 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. generated e-commerce revenue of $501.9 million, up 16.6 percent from $430.3 million in 2006. FTD Group Inc. came in at $260 million; Hallmark Cards Inc. at $92.9 million; RedEnvelope.com at $88.5 million; American Greetings Corp. at $85.2 million; Potpourri Group Inc. at $77.4 million; Celebrate Express at $64.7 million; The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. at $57 million; PersonalCreations.com at $51 million and JustFlowers.com at $20 million.
As we know from brick and mortar, lower sales for behemoths does not always mean bad news for the little guy. But if Internet Retailer is right and online gifts have become a commodity, things could get worse before they get better. — Meredith Schwartz
