Improved Losses for drugstore.com

Improved Losses for drugstore.com

BELLEVUE, Wash.--Drugstore.com Inc. (NASDQQ:DSCM)reported Oct. 23 that for its third quarter (3Q03), ended Sept. 28, sales gainswere due to strides made in the over-the-counter (OTC) and supplement sectors.

Sales posted higher for the quarter, coming in at $59.8 million compared to3Q02's $47.4 million. Gross margin inched up to 20.3 percent of sales from 19.7percent, and operating costs checked in at $14.4 million from $15.6 million. Netloss improved, landing at $4.7 million, or $.07 lost per share, compared to thesame quarter last year's $7.0 million, or $.10 lost per share.

"We are very pleased with the strong growth of our third quarter salesand thrilled with the progress we are making in our OTC segment, where salesgrew by more than 40 percent during the quarter," said Kal Raman, presidentand chief executive officer.

The company's other top-selling sections included vitamin supplements, sportsnutrition products and diet aids. The company continues to launch virtualstores-within-a-store, including the Sexual Well-being Store, the Healthy Woman Store and the Natural Store.