Stellar E-commerce Growth

Many retailers recently reported second quarter results and I couldn't help but notice just how well e-commerce sales were.  While a lot of retailers do not break out e-commerce sales, some of them do.

It appears that many chain stores are figuring out how to leverage the e-commerce channel, which requires a distinct approach and mindset from the brick & mortar channel.  

Q2 Web vs. Store Growth (Click to enlarge)

There is still a lot of room for e-commerce growth for many retailers.  Most notably Dick's online sales were only 3% to total sales for the quarter.  

One retailer that I left off of the above chart is J.C. Penney, which had a significant drop in both store (-23%) and e-commerce (-32.5%) sales for the quarter.  One possible reason for the larger drop in e-commerce sales is due to the company's move away from promotional pricing.  In my experience promotional and clearance items perform very well online.  It is easy for customers to find them since they are typically merchandised together on a site's clearance page, which is a lot easier to sort through than a store's clearance area.