Buy.com to Focus Its Strategy on U.S. Market

As the venture capital appetite for online retail sites has waned, Buy.com Inc. is concentrating on the U.S. market to demonstrate that its business model “does have legs,” Chairman Gregory Hawkins said.

In a CNBC interview Monday, Hawkins said the Aliso Viejo online retailer logged profit margins of 6.7% last quarter and sees continued improvement in margins as it raises prices slightly quarter by quarter and adds categories with bigger margins. The holiday shopping season will be an “important milestone,” he added.

Shares of Buy.com are down substantially from a year ago. Buy.com, which traded as high as $35.44 in February, closed Monday at $1.44, up 19 cents a share, in Nasdaq trading.