DISCOVERING ONLINE SALES REVENUE
Discovery Communications’ decision to follow the lead of entertainment company brethren Time Warner and Disney and get out of the brick-and-mortar retail business paid off on Cyber Monday.
The home to such shows as “Man vs. Wild” and “Dirty Jobs” saw total sales volume more than double on the day compared to last year – despite shuttering its entire fleet of 120 Discovery stores.
Thanks in part to a nicely timed plug for its “Planet Earth” DVD from Oprah Winfrey on her “Favorite Things” show, Discovery generated $2.4 million in online purchases last Monday.
On the same day last year, the company earned only half that amount in online and brick-and-mortar purchases combined. Moreover, without having to deal with rent and other operating expenses associated with the store locations, this year’s figures come at a significantly higher profit margin than last year.
“It isn’t the core competency of a media company to run stores,” Patrick Gates, the president of Discovery’s commerce division, said.
The decision to close the stores was one prong of a three-part restructuring plan undertaken when former NBC execDavid Zaslav took over Discovery’s CEO reins in November 2006.