Blue Nile, Bidz.com top jewelry e-tailers

Not surprisingly, online jewelry seller Blue Nile and jewelry auction site Bidz.com continue to rank among the top 500 Internet retail sites, according to Internet Retailer magazine's 2008 "Top 500 Guide."

The guide is a comprehensive analysis of the country's 500 largest retail Web sites ranked by 2007 sales.

In addition to the usual jewelry-seller suspects—eLuxury.com Inc., Fortunoff, Fossil Inc., Jewelry Television, QVC Inc., Ross-Simons Inc., Tiffany and Co. and Zale Corp., among others—Ice.com Inc., Limoges Jewelry and PalmBeach Jewelry also cracked the top 500 this year.

According to the list, the country's No. 1 e-tailer was again Amazon.com Inc., which recorded $14.8 billion in sales in 2007, more than double the sales of the second-ranking e-tailer, Staples Inc.

Staples recorded $5.6 billion in Internet sales in 2007, followed by Office Depot Inc. with $4.9 billion, Dell Inc. with $4.2 billion and HP Home and Home Office Store (Hewlett-Packard Co.) with $3.4 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 were OfficeMax Inc. ($3.2 billion), Apple Inc. ($2.7 billion), Sears Holding Corp. ($2.6 billion), CDW Corp. ($2.4 billion) and Newegg.com ($1.9 billion). Newegg.com sells discounted computers, electronics and DVDs.

Internet Retailer is a monthly national business magazine, Web site conference and directory serving the retail community and published by Chicago-based Vertical Web Media LLC.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Bidz.com Launches Buyz.com, Expanding Online Jewelry Offerings

Bidz.com (NASDAQ:BIDZ - News), a leading online auctioneer of jewelry, announced today the initial launch of its online retail store, Buyz.com, which offers quality jewelry at a fixed price, complementing the Bidz.com online auctions.

This initial, or beta, launch of Buyz.com, features high quality gold, silver and brand name jewelry and watches at fixed prices, the site will also offer customers to design their own jewelry, including diamond earrings and rings in the near future.

Both Bidz.com and Buyz.com sites benefit from the company’s proven ability to buy quality jewelry from sources around the world. The jewelry inventory for both is retained on site, which enables the company to quickly process and deliver all orders. Bidz.com, which grew 42% last year, sells an average of 12,000 items per day, making it one of the most popular online jewelry shopping destinations.

During this beta launch period, Bidz.com will continue to create programming and develop content for Buyz.com. The company will have the opportunity to listen to customer feedback and add new features and functions. As part of the formal launch, the company will conduct increased marketing and public relations outreach to further increase awareness.

"We are very excited about the initial launch of Buyz.com," said David Zinberg, Chief Executive Officer of Bidz.com. “We continue to successfully execute on our strategic plan and have advanced our goal of becoming the leading auctioneer and retailer of online jewelry. Our unique variety of jewelry allows consumers to choose from a broad selection of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and other precious and semi-precious stones. Buyz.com gives consumers the opportunity to buy quality jewelry at great prices, and gives them a wonderful, convenient alternative to the Bidz.com auctions.”
Source: yahoo

Jewelry sites among top gainers in December

Retail jewelry Web sites trailed only cosmetics and consumer goods in category growth from unique visitors during the month of December, an analysis by ComScore Inc. reveals.

As consumers rushed to complete their holiday gift lists online, the analysis showed that fragrance and cosmetics sites experienced a 30 percent increase in the number of unique visitors between November and December, followed by consumer-goods sites with a 23 percent increase, and jewelry, luxury goods and accessories sites with a 22 percent increase, to 24 million unique visitors.

Other sites with a significant increase in unique visitors during the month of December included shipping (21 percent), retail-music (17 percent) and gay and lesbian Web sites (16 percent.)

When it comes to individual Web sites, OfficeMax topped the list for unique-visitor growth in December with a 170 percent increase, fueled mostly by its popular, viral holiday-greeting site Elfyourself.com.

Yahoo Sites continued its reign as the top U.S. Web property in December with about 137 million unique visitors, followed by Google Sites with 133 million and Microsoft Sites with 120 million.

Apple Inc. did well in December, moving up to the No. 10 spot due to interest in the iPod and iPhone as holiday gifts.

Other retail sites that posted big gains in December included Sears, J.C. Penney and Best Buy.

ComScore Inc. measures the digital world based on a global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given the company permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. ComScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Earnings, Sales Shine At Online Jewelry Firm

Blue Nile NILE is rebounding from a pullback to its 10-week moving average and closing in on its all-time high set in early August.

In fact, the stock's Relative Strength line on its weekly chart is already at new highs, ahead of price -- a bullish sign.

The Seattle-based firm is the largest online retailer of certified diamonds and fine jewelry.

Its earnings growth has ranged from 23% to 46% in the past four quarters. Sales ranged from 24% to 34%, well ahead of some traditional jewelry outfits such as Zales ZLC.

Ultimate Software Group ULTI may be forming a new base. Shares have ramped up in the past two sessions, after trading sideways a few weeks.

The stock also found support at its 10-week moving average for the second time since a June 15 breakout.

Ultimate makes software products for human resources tasks, payroll and recruitment.

The company has delivered triple-digit profit growth for four of the past five quarters. Analysts see full-year profit surging 87%.

After-tax margin was 24% in the latest quarter, sharply wider than in preceding periods.
Source: cnn

Online Jewelry and Watch Sales Grew 32% in Q2

Retail e-commerce spending in the U.S. (excluding travel) increased 23 percent in the second quarter of 2007 versus year ago to $27.2 billion, according to comScore, Inc., which measures digital data. Jewelry and watch sales grew by 32 percent for the period.

“Retail e-commerce rebounded solidly in the second quarter after a modest start to the year,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. “After posting 17 percent growth versus year ago in Q1, retail e-commerce sales grew 23 percent year-over-year in Q2, matching the growth rates we’ve seen during the past couple of years.”

The top-gaining e-commerce category in the quarter was video games, consoles & accessories, which jumped 159 percent on the strength of Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 sales, according to the Reston, Va.-based company. Sport & fitness also saw substantial gains (up 58 percent), followed by consumer electronics (up 51 percent) and event tickets (up 44 percent).

Online travel spending increased 14 percent to $20.3 billion, comScore said. Total U.S. e-commerce spending climbed 19 percent to $47.5 billion for the period.

Based on the first-half growth rates, comScore said total U.S. online consumer spending is on track to reach $200 billion in 2007.

“Even factoring in the moderate growth rates from Q1, we’re currently on pace to break $200 billion in e-commerce spending in 2007,” Fulgoni said. “However, in the past we’ve seen growth rates accelerate as the year progresses, culminating with the online holiday shopping season, so $200 billion may actually turn out to be a conservative estimate.”
Source: jckonline