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Estee Lauder and Procter & Gamble’s beauty unit recently announced sales and earnings for the 4th quarter of 2009 that were improved from the outsized declines suffered in fourth quarter of calendar 2008. Those shortfalls in 2008 followed the September credit panic when retailers stopped ordering and consumers stopped buying.

At Estee Lauder, its second fiscal quarter, ending December 31, saw sales rise 11 percent to $2.26 billion. Increases came from travel/retail, Asia and Europe. In the Americas, sales increased 1.4 percent to $917 million, while profits declined 3 percent to approximately $53 million.

While Estee Lauder does not break out numbers for U.S. department stores, its sales probably were down by 5 or so percent. Since the industry average was closer to 7 percent, according to Mottus & Associates, Lauder likely gained share.

Sales at Lauder’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division leaped by 17.5 percent to $895.5 million and earnings jumped in that region to $230.4 million. Asia Pacific saw sales climb to $442.5 million from $374.9 million and earnings increased from $86.6 million to $116.6 million. It appears that the U.S. is a shrinking part of the pie.

In the conference call with analysts, John Demsey, group president, noted that Estee Lauder brand is showing first signs of stability in the U.S. in many years. In Mottus & Associates’ annual prestige study, Lauder brand had a small decrease, as its gift-with-purchase activity prevented consumers from trading down. Clinique also showed good results, according to the study.

At P&G, beauty sales for the quarter were up 7 percent in dollars and 2 percent in units. Sales were $5.2 billion and net earnings were $876 million. Prestige fragrances were down in low single digits.

E-commerce sales were up about 25 percent at Lauder. These results were in line with other manufacturer and retailer websites. Macy’s reported a near 30 percent increase in the fourth quarter, as e-commerce sales skyrocketed. In the upcoming issue of The Informationist, Mottus & Associates sees that affluent consumers are fearful of crowd hysteria in department stores.

As a result, more consumers are ordering online. Politicians have created some fear by attacking affluent citizens. With attacks against bankers, New York City department stores have had shortfalls. As a result, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom are increasing their numbers of outlet mall stores.

In fact, Nordstrom’s outlet chain, Rack, is moving to New York City’s Union Square on May 11th, and there are reports that Rack may open an outlet on Fifth Avenue between Saks and Lord & Taylor.

P&G is also opening an eStore. With the battle between amazon.com and Walmart’s website taking on new proportions, e-commerce could very well account for more than 10 percent of retail sales in the near future. Press reports did not say if P&G’s eStore would sell its designer fragrances.