Liberty Interactive Corporation, which owns the QVC shopping channel and Backcountry.com, said e-Commerce increased its share of total revenues 300 basis points to 33 percent in the first quarter thanks in part to rapid growth in mobile commerce orders.
Companywide, e-Commerce sales grew 14 percent. In the United Stated e-Commerce generated 38.8 percent of Liberty Interactive’s sales during the quarter, up 295 basis points from the same quarter in 2011.
The company’s Other e-Commerce businesses – Backcountry.com, Provide Commerce, Bodybuilding.com, Celebrate Interactive, CommerceHub and Right Start – generated sales of $382 million in the first quarter ended March 31, up 18 percent from a year earlier. All but one of those businesses reported an increase in revenue for the quarter as a result of increased marketing efforts and increased conversion resulting from site optimization and broader inventory offerings.
“Our mobile business also continues to be a highlight,” said QVC CEO Mike George. “It represented 6 percent of total revenue worldwide in Q1, that’s double last year’s mix, and if we look at mobile penetration as a percentage of our e-commerce revenue, that number jumps up to over 18 percent.”
Adjusted OIBDA for the Other e-Commerce businesses increased 17 percent to $34 million for the quarter and operating income increased 88% to $15 million.
Liberty Interactive’s largest business, QVC, generated $1.93 billion during the quarter, up 5 percent from a year earlier. The company also owns stakes in Expedia, TripAdvisor, HSN, Interval Leisure Group and Tree.com. Companywide, the company reported a gross margin of
