It was a nice trot but not a full-out gallop for e-commerce growth for Dover Saddlery Inc. in 2013.
For the year ended Dec. 31, the retailer of horse saddles and related riding equipment reported:
- Web sales increased year over year 10.4% to $41.5 million from $37.6 million.
- Total sales increased 14.5% to $98.8 million from $86.3 million in 2012.
- Direct sales grew 1.8% to $50.3 million from $49.4 million in 2012.
- Retail sales increased 17.9% to $43.5 million from $36.9 million in 2012.
- Net income decreased 5.9% to $1.6 million from $1.7 million in 2012.
- The web accounted for 42.0% of total sales compared with 43.6% in 2012.
To grow its web business last year, Dover Saddlery, No. 350 in the 2013 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, redesigned SmithBrothers.com, an e-commerce site owned by Dover that sells Western-style, equestrian products. The new redesign features bigger images, enhanced customer ratings, reviews and product recommendations, and faster site search.
Dover Saddlery in 2013 also opened stores in Huntington, NY; Winter Park, FL; Austin, TX and Charlotte, NC. Those openings bringing its total store count to 22.
Dover Saddlery didn’t break out web sales for the fourth quarter but did report:
- Total sales increased 13.9% to $30.3 million from $26.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
- Direct sales grew 7.5% to $17.1 million from $15.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
- Retail sales increased 22.4% year over year to $13.1 million from $10.7 million in Q4 2012.
- Net income grew 30.1% to $1.3 million from $999,000 in Q4 2012.
“Dover Saddlery had an extremely strong fourth quarter with very successful promotions that led to an impressive 7.3% increase in same-store sales and an 8% increase in the direct channel,” says CEO Stephen Day. “We had an excellent in-stock situation during the holiday period and were able to ship out all our holiday orders on time.”