Brylane joins top retail catalogs

NEW YORK — JCPenney, Fingerhut, Spiegel and Domestications remained in the same positions in 2000 among cataloger rankings, though a new catalog retailer joined them.

Brylane Home, a catalog retailer of value-priced goods, based here, placed fifth for the year 2000, at the expense of Spiegel's Eddie Bauer division. With $150 million sales in home textiles, the company owns such apparel catalogs as Lane Bryant and Chadwick's. It launched its Brylane Home catalog in 1998, offering value-priced home products. The newcomer also placed 27th on the Top 50 list.

Spiegel had the biggest growth leap for this group in 2000, with an increase of more than 16 percent for a total of $244 million in home textiles sales. Home textiles products make up 29.3 percent of the Downers Grove, IL-based cataloger's merchandise. It also retained its position at number 18 on the Top 50 for 2000.

Though JCPenney's catalog sales in home textiles crept up only 3.2 percent in 2000, the Plano, TX-based retailer remains the undisputed leader, with $1.176 billion, which is 15.3 percent of its retail sales.

Fingerhut, Federated's Minnetonka, MN-based catalog division, saw its catalog sales drop down 6.3 percent for a total of $312 million. It also slid down two spots on the Top 50 ranking, placing 12th for 2000. Home textiles are 16.1 percent of its sales.

Hanover Direct's Domestications, Weehawken, NJ, inched up slightly by 1.3 percent, for $151 million in home textiles sales in 2000. More than 80 percent of its sales are from home textiles products.