The home improvement retail chain accelerated its international expansion by acquiring Canadian home improvement retailer Rona.

Home improvement retail chain Lowe’s Companies Inc. built a strong online sales foundation to start 2016.

Lowe’s, No. 27 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, does not break out online sales in its earnings report, but on the retailer’s Q1 2016 call Wednesday chief financial officer Bob Hull told analysts that online sales grew 23.5% year over year during the quarter.

“We saw strong growth in traffic as well as conversion,” Hull told analysts on the call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. “Improved visual tools such as 360-degree product views, improved video content and the continued expansion of click-to-chat capabilities better support the customer’s digital experience.”

Lowe’s on Friday said it has completed its acquisition of Canadian home improvement retailer Rona for $2.4 billion ($3.2 billion Canadian). Rona sells online through Rona.ca. The acquisition gives Lowe’s an additional 496 stores throughout Canada.

For the first quarter ended April 29, Lowe’s reported:

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  • Net sales of $15.23 billion, up 7.8% from $14.13 billion last year.
  • Net earnings of $884 million, up 31.4% from $673 million last year.
  • Year-over-year companywide comparable-store sales gain of 7.3%.
  • Comparable sales gain of 7.5% for its U.S. home improvement business.
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