Orders grew 9% during the third quarter for web-only mass merchant Overstock.com Inc., helping drive double digit year-over-year sales growth.
Overstock, No. 31 in the Internet Retailer 2015Top 500 Guide, reported net revenue of $391.2 million during the third quarter, up 10.8% from $353.0 million during the same time last year. 8.6% of that revenue, or $33.62 million, came from orders shipped directly from Overstock, while the remaining $357.59 million was generated by sales shipped from its suppliers. This time last year, revenue from direct orders ($33.59 million) accounted for 9.5% of overall sales ($353 million) for Overstock.
On Overstock’s Q3 2015 earnings call, CEO Patrick Byrne talked about the company’s expansion of its Club O loyalty program, which now features two levels: gold and silver. Club O Silver, introduced during Q2, is free to join and shoppers can earn 2% in rewards on every purchase. Byrne says it has 19 million members.
The original Club O converted to Club O Gold and costs $19.95 a year for such perks as free shipping and special savings.
Byrne told analysts there’s still work to be done to convert Club O Silver members into Gold customers and additional revenue.
Overstock needs to test how to encourage customers to respond to reward emails like they do with discount coupons, Byrne said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. “There’s going to be some learning involved in that, some learning costs.”
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Overstock.com reported:
- Direct revenue of $33.62 million, up slightly from $33.59 million during the same time last year.
- Partner revenue of $357.6 million, up 12.0% from $319.4 million during the same time last year.
- Gross profit of $72.5 million compared to $67.1 million during the same time last year.
For the first nine months of 2015, Overstock.com reported:
- Net revenue of $1.178 billion, up 14.7% from $1.027 billion during the same time last year.
- Direct revenue of $104.2 million, down 0.1% from $104.9 million during the same time last year.
- Partner revenue of $1.073 billion, up 16.4% from $921.9 million during the same time last year.
- Gross profit of $221.5 million compared to $193.7 million during the same time last year.