Home Depot Inc. said its online sales grew 25 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier compared with 4.3 percent total sales growth, and now represent 5 percent of the company’s total revenue. The home improvement giant, which said in the same quarter a year earlier that high transportation costs weighed on its margins, attributed a slight increase in its gross margin in the June quarter to improved logistics, including increased productivity in its distribution network and lower fuel costs.
Target Corp., which said digital sales grew 30 percent in the second quarter compared with 2.4 percent overall sales growth, said it is setting ambitious online sales targets and reported a small increase in its gross margin, to 30.9 percent from 30.4 percent compared with a contraction in the same period a year earlier to 30.4 percent from 31.4 percent.
