Martha Stewart Gets Boost as Consumers Focus on Home
Special to CNBC.com
As consumers have become more cautious with their spending, domestic diva Martha Stewart notes that they are buying less extravagant items and instead focusing on their homes, food, children and pets.
"Everybody is cooking at home," Stewart said, in an interview with CNBC. "Notice what’s going on in the world of food and in cookbooks. We’ve had three best-selling cookbooks in the last year. That is an indication of something really strong happening with the consumer. They want to know how to cook. They want to know how to put good food on the table."
(To hear the full interview, watch the video below.)
Stewart’s line of crafts, Martha Stewart’s Crafts, a branch of her company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, has also done well this year, as consumers opt to stay in and save rather than go out and spend.
“They need projects to do at home," Stewart says. "They want to feel really good about staying at home so they are creating. When you look at Etsy, the craft blog, and you look at our craft blog, people are going crazy. And we just came out with this book (Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts). In one week, it got to be number two on the New York Times bestseller list and the Wall Street Journal list.”
Although consumer's current focus on the home and crafts helps play to some of Martha Stewart Living's strengths, her media business, has been hurt by weaker revenue.
Stewart expects advertising revenue to rebound, but she acknowledges there are new types of platforms for marketers.
For example, she said Twitter's power lays untapped.
“I’m experimenting with all the new media,” said Stewart. “Twitter, in one month, (I got) 350,000 followers. That is a very powerful tool. I find it very useful.”
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