January 07, 2009 09:03 AM Eastern Time 

Replacements.com Grows Web Traffic by 13.5 Percent During December

GREENSBORO, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Despite a turbulent December for many retailers, Replacements, Ltd. experienced a record number of visits to the company’s Web site. For the first time ever, customer visits to www.replacements.com exceeded three million in a calendar month, up 13.5 percent from the previous December. Web order volumes were up 15 percent over the same time period for the world’s largest supplier of old and new china, crystal, silver and collectibles.

“The fact that we were up 13.5 percent over last December when many market leaders in e-commerce saw negative traffic growth is helpful for us in validating our online strategies,” says Jack Whitley, senior vice president of e-commerce. “One reason we continue to see consistent growth is that we’ve stuck to our marketing plan even in bad times and have continued to scale our online advertising in areas where we are seeing success; we now run more than five million ads in our core Web advertising campaigns, in addition to other online, offline and public relations initiatives.”

The company has seen tremendous online growth since launching its site just over a decade ago. The Replacements.com web team, which includes founder and CEO Bob Page, recorded 1,991 visits when the site went live in June 1998, a fraction of December’s 3,030,236 visits. A leading industry magazine, Internet Retailer, ranked niche merchant Replacements as the 166^th largest e-retailer in the United States for 2008.

“We have an inventory of more than 13 million pieces in china, crystal, silver and collectibles that is constantly changing, with thousands of new and interesting pieces coming in everyday,” says Whitley. “Even with that massive inventory to browse, we still get hundreds of testimonials from visitors each month telling us our site is fast and easy to use. We feel that the discipline to keep Replacements.com cleanly laid out and user friendly is an absolute factor in being able to continue to grow our traffic.”

Page started the company in the attic of his home in 1981 and entered the e-commerce world 17 years later with Replacements.com. Overall company sales for 2008 exceeded $86.5 million.

About Replacements, Ltd.

Founded by Bob Page in 1981, Replacements, Ltd. carries the world’s largest selection of old and new china, crystal, silver and collectibles. The company’s 415,000 square foot facilities house an inventory of more than 13 million pieces from over 300,000 patterns. Headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., Replacements, Ltd. serves nearly ten million customers worldwide.