Toysrus.com swings into the black in first quarter

Toys “R” Us Inc. is reporting higher web sales and a profit for the first quarter.

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The toys retailer grew its e-commerce sales by 20.1% in Q1 to $77 million from $64 million in Q1 2005. At the same time, total sales grew 12% in the first quarter of 2006 to $2.39 billion from $2.13 billion in the same quarter in the previous year.

In the first quarter, Toysrus.com also reported a profit of $8 million, compared with a net loss of $2 million in Q1 2005. Web sales accounted for 3.2% of sales in the quarter, up slightly from 3% a year earlier. “The net web sales increase was driven by an approximately 33% increase in domestic sales of baby products and an approximately 9% growth in both total orders and average order value,” the company says in its most recent 10Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Toys “R” Us, No. 31 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites, will continue to outsource the operation of its e-commerce sites. Leaving Amazon.com behind, Toys “R” Us is going with GSI Commerce Inc. and Exel, a contract logistics provider. Exel is a wholly owned entity of Deutsche Post World Net.