Like many retailers, TJX Companies is expanding its e-commerce offerings.
The parent to T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls reported that net sales for Q2 were $12.1 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of 23%. Diluted earnings per share were $.64, compared to earnings per share of $.62 in Q2 of 2020. Total open-only comparative store sales increased 20% and was led by a 36% increase at HomeGoods.
When it comes to e-commerce, TJX CEO, president and director Ernie Herrman said in a Wednesday call with investors that the company continues to be “pleased” with these sales in the U.S and the U.K.
While brick-and-mortar sales are still the lifeblood of the value retailer, TJX leaned into e-commerce amid a general online shopping boom in 2020. In November, TJX announced that it would launch a HomeGoods website, homegoods.com, which will finally come to fruition next quarter.
Herrman initially said in May of 2020 that TJX would “not look to e-commerce as our major leveraging point to get us through COVID and out the other side.” Later, in November, he said that the new website will “satisfy our current customer base, which is expanding and continue to attract new shoppers.”
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Unlike the buying process for Marshalls.com and Tjmaxx.com, homegoods.com will be more connected to HomeGoods stores in terms of inventory. The website will be populated with items from HomeGoods stores and will also leverage the same merchants and planning organizations, making the entire shopping experience more fluid for consumers.
Homegoods.com will also enable shoppers to complete certain sets of products if they choose. While customers in HomeGoods stores often only buy one or two pieces of a dining or furniture set, homegoods.com will allow shoppers to fill in the gaps to complete a set with other pieces online.
“So you could really outfit a room or a whole look a little easier by kind of supplementing your in-store purchases with your online purchases with HomeGoods,” Herrman said.
According to Herrman, this website strategy will help HomeGoods leverage profit quickly. TJX is currently working on a strategy for shipping pricing that will also likely be unique to homegoods.com, but Herrman did not disclose any details on that yet.
Overall, Herrman said the homegoods.com set-up makes it so that there are less overhead costs, or costs associated with selling a product outside of acquiring, compared to the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls websites.
“This is a much leaner setup,” he said.
