The Home Depot has launched its online store www.homedepot.com to Las Vegas customers. The service allows users to choose from the store's 40,000-product line with several options for delivery.

The site, which has been designed to scale 20 million or more customer sessions each day, hopes to offer customers the same experience as shopping in its stores. Customers can search for products online three ways: by keyword, by brand or by SKU. Products can be picked up by a customer at the store, delivered to a jobsite or other location by either Home Depot or UPS.

For professionals, the site offers a way to create custom shopping lists that highlight the latest pricing of frequently bought commodity items, and allows them to manage their credit account online. The company says that many pros now order by phone or fax and that this new option saves time and money, and can help them run a better business.

Home Depot will expand online sales to additional markets after this pilot program in Las Vegas. Anticipated during the third and fourth quarters, Austin and San Antonio are the next two markets to see a roll out of the new site.

The company also reported net earnings of $838 million or $0.36 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2000. That figure is up 23 percent from net earnings of $679 million in the second quarter of 1999. Sales totaled $12.62 billion, an increase of 21 percent from the same period of 1999.

The company opened 41 new stores and relocated two stores during this quarter, and now operates a total of 1,011 stores with an aggregate of approximately 109 million-sq. ft. of selling space.