Egghead.Com Likes Web Move

Egghead.com Inc., the online retailer based in Vancouver, Wash., reported net sales of $148.72 million for its fiscal year ended April 3, compared with the $293.07 million it posted a year ago.

Fiscal 1999 is the first time Egghead has had no “brick-and-mortar” facilities on its books, selling strictly on the Internet. For fiscal 1998, the company had only $59.74 million in Internet sales.

For 1999, Egghead had a net loss of $34.42 million, or $1.40 a share, compared with a net loss of $50.23 million in 1998, or $2.40 a share.

For the fourth quarter ended April 3, Egghead had sales of $42.27 million, compared with the $74.51 million it had during the same period in 1998.

Net losses for the quarter came to $12.81 million, compared with $35.04 million in the fourth quarter of 1998.

“Our performance for the year and in the fourth quarter demonstrates the emerging power of Web commerce,” George Orban, Egghead.com chairman and CEO said. “We achieved higher quarterly revenues and gross margin than during the preceding Christmas quarter, the strongest quarter for retailers.”

Orban noted that Egghead.com has completed an unprecedented yearlong transition, becoming the first national retailer to move its entire business to the Web.

“It was absolutely the right decision. Our brand now is among the strongest on the Internet, and our new business model is taking shape,” Orban said. “We believe that the future of e-commerce is bright.”

In March, Egghead decided to close what little remained of its operations at Liberty Lake and officially move its headquarters to Vancouver.

Egghead moved to Spokane from Issaquah, Wash., in 1995, bringing 550 jobs to Spokane.