In keeping with its strategic shift toward a store-based business model, Sandpoint, ID-based women’s apparel cataloger/retailer Coldwater Creek slashed catalog circulation 32% in the second quarter. And though its net catalog sales slipped 26%, total company net sales for the quarter ended July 31 increased 15% to $111.2 million, compared with $96.7 million last year. Net income was $3.4 million, compared with a net loss of $1.4 million last year.
Net sales from the direct segment, which encompasses catalog and Web sales, decreased 11% to $49.9 million, compared with $56.1 million last year. Catalog net sales fell to $24.0 million in the quarter compared with $32.4 million last year. E-commerce net sales increased 10% to $26.0 million, compared with $23.6 million last year.
Net retail sales increased 51% to $61.3 million in the fiscal 2004 second quarter, from $40.6 million last year. Coldwater opened 18 full-line retail stores during the second quarter. It now operates 89 retail stores, compared with 48 retail stores last year.