VitaminShoppe.com Posts Huge 1Q Sales Increase

NEW YORK--Online dietary supplement retailer VitaminShoppe.com (NASDAQ:VSHP) reported strong sales results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2000. Revenues rose sharply to $9.33 million, up 388 percent from $1.91 million sold a year ago. The first quarter sales also represented a 67-percent increase over $5.59 million sold in the previous quarter. Earnings for the quarter will not be released until May.

VSHP's cumulative customers rose from 104,000 to 154,000 in the first quarter, and the percentage of orders from repeat customers remained well above 50 percent in the quarter. Average order size was $64. VSHP chief executive Jeffrey Horowitz said his company has maintained financial momentum in the face of recent challenges to the e-commerce industry by focusing only on vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements.

"Our ability to consistently achieve repeat customer orders, increase traffic to our site, maintain high margins and average order size is truly a testament to the wisdom of this focused strategy," he said. Management reported it will launch a new state-of-the-art website in the second quarter. The new site will provide faster access and new customization and personalization, according to the company.