Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Staples online sales growth outpaces stores

Online sales at office-supply retailer Staples Inc. rose 14 percent in its fiscal 2007 -- outpacing the growth of store-based retail sales, which rose just 1 percent over sales reported the previous year.

Online sales reached $5.6 billion in fiscal 2007, which ended Feb. 2, up from $4.9 billion in fiscal 2006, the Framingham-based retail giant reported.

During the last four fiscal years, Staples delivery division sales have risen 5.7 percentage points -- from 28.4 percent to 34.1 percent -- as a portion of Staples' total revenue, according to company filings obtained by Mass High Tech.

The division of Staples that includes online sales, known as the North American Delivery division, also includes catalog and contractor sales. It generated $6.6 billion in revenue, up from $5.9 billion the previous fiscal year. E-commerce sales accounted for 75 percent of that division's revenue, Staples reported.

The delivery division operates Staples.com, the website launched in 1998 that is now the second-largest U.S. retail website (after Amazon.com Inc.), processing 40,000 orders a day.

During fiscal 2007, the company posted an overall profit of $973.6 million on revenue of $18.1 billion.