Toys/hobbies | Digital Commerce 360

Michaels launches MakerPlace online marketplace

Mary Meisenzahl — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:01:02 +0000

The Michaels Company is launching a new online marketplace, called MakerPlace. The marketplace listed hundreds of thousands of SKUs at launch on Nov. 1, Michaels said in a press release.

Michaels ranks No. 111 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 database.

Michaels MakerPlace competes with Etsy

The retailer launched its marketplace following a successful three-month beta test, the retailer said.

MakerPlace is positioned as a competitor to Etsy Inc. In addition to handmade products, Michaels MakerPlace sellers can sell places in virtual classes and how-to guides.

Handmade bud vases for sales on Michaels MakerPlace.

“Our research found that nearly three in four makers believe there’s a void in the online marketplace landscape today, and that existing platforms come with pain points like high upfront costs, increasing fees for product listings and competition with an overflow of mass-produced goods,” says Heather Bennett, executive vice president of marketing and ecommerce at Michaels. “MakerPlace by Michaels was designed in direct response to these challenges with the goal of helping handmade artists and makers succeed,” she says.

Michaels MakerPlace doesn’t charge a listing fee to sellers. It charges a 4% referral fee to sellers on its basic subscription plan, along with a 2% referral fee to sellers in the professional tier, which costs $9.98 per month. All sellers pay a transaction fee of 3% plus $0.20 per item.

In comparison, Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee and a 6.5% transaction fee. Etsy ranks No. 17 in Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the Top 100 online marketplaces by GMV.

Why add an online marketplace?

Starting an online marketplace puts Michaels in good company. 40 retailers in the Top 1000 operate a consumer marketplace, with 23 those in the Top 100, according to Digital Commerce 360 research.

“For retailers like Michaels, with specific audiences, adding a marketplace expands selection in a way that consumers appreciate,” says James Risley, research data manager and senior analyst at Digital Commerce 360.

Michaels can lend its name recognition and trust among consumers to marketplace sellers, and consumers might then feel safer buying those items from a known source, he says. It’s also a way to generate revenue beyond selling goods, with the learning component in the marketplace.

“With Michaels’ solution, there’s a little risk in moderation, making sure a woodworking class isn’t turned into a venue for how to make weapons. But I think it’s a good niche for this kind of non-goods marketplace,” Risley says.

MakerPlace will operate alongside the other third-party marketplace Michaels launched in February. That marketplace appears on Michaels.com alongside first-party goods, and expanded Michaels online offerings to more than 1 million SKUs.

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Earnings recap: What you missed from Amazon, Deckers and more

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 18:28:07 +0000

This week, more retailers in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 list of leading ecommerce retailers in North America reported ecommerce earnings results for the most recent fiscal quarter. Here’s the ecommerce earnings summary you need to know from this week. Read more ecommerce earnings coverage here.

Parentheses indicate the merchant’s ranking in the Top 1000.

Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1)

Amazon recorded its highest operating income ever in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Operating income nearly quadrupled year over year, growing 343%.

Read more about Amazon’s earnings here.

Columbia Sportswear Co. (No. 149)

Columbia reported net sales grew 3% in its fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2023. Growth was balanced between wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels, it said. Physical stores are outperforming ecommerce within direct to consumer.

“Consumer demand for soft goods, including apparel, footwear, remains weak,” Tim Boyle, CEO, said in an earnings call.

Deckers Brands (No. 74)

Deckers reported revenue grew 25% to $1.1 billion in its second fiscal quarter of 2024 ended Sept. 30. Direct-to-consumer net sales increased 38.8% to $331.7 million.

“Consumer demand was robust in stores and online,” says Dave Powers, Deckers CEO. Greater numbers of Hoka and Ugg brands drove average prices up, he said. [what do you mean? products from those brands?]

Hasbro Inc. (No. 554)

Hasbro reported revenue declined 10% in the third quarter ended Oct. 1. However, the toy retailer reported large gains in online gaming. Digital gaming revenue grew 40%, driven by Magic The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. Consumer products and entertainment revenue declined 18% and 42%, respectively.

Overstock.com Inc. (No. 49)

Overstock reported revenue declined 19% to $373 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Results reflect the Overstock brand through July 31, and Bed Bath & Beyond beginning Aug. 1. Active customers declined 15% and net revenue per active customer declined 13%.

Skechers USA Inc. (No. 301)

Skechers reported sales grew 7.8% to $2.0 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Direct-to-consumer sales, which include ecommerce, grew 23.8%. Domestic ecommerce slowed as U.S. consumers returned to stores. Last year at this time, stores had a lack of inventory, pushing consumers online, the retailer said. This year, stores are better stocked, so consumers went there first. [attribution?]

Tractor Supply Co. (No. 99)

Tractor Supply report net sales grew 4.3% to $3.41 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Ecommerce sales grew in the high single digits, the retailer said without revealing more. Digital sales made up more than $1 billion in the last 12 months. The Buy Online, Deliver from Store program is also doing well, Tractor Supply said.

Meanwhile, comparable sales declined 0.4%.

United Parcel Service Inc.

UPS reported profits and revenue declined in its fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2023. UPS consolidated revenue declined 12.8% from the year-ago period to $21.1 billion. Consolidated operating profit declined 48.7% over the same period to $1.3 billion.

So what does it mean?

Retailers are still reporting soft consumer demand in the face of rising prices and turn toward experiences rather than physical goods.
However, some apparel retailers are reporting bright spots. Deckers and Skechers both say they’re seeing strong interest from consumers.

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Earnings recap: What you missed from American Eagle, Kroger, Zumiez and more

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 19:56:42 +0000

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (No. 54 in the Top 1000)

American Eagle reported digital revenue declined 7% in the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023. Meanwhile, store revenue grew 4% and total net revenue was up “slightly” to $1.2 billion.

“Demand picked up in June and July, reflecting brand strength and on trend collections that are resonating well with customers, supported by exciting new marketing campaigns,” CEO Jay Schottenstein said in a written statement.

Following improvements to BOPIS offerings in the quarter, pickup penetration doubled, the retailer said. That is leading to savings on shipping costs and leading to additional sales.

Designer Brands Inc. (No. 77)

Designer Brands reported net sales declined 7.8% to $792.2 million for the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023. Total comparable sales, which include ecommerce sales, declined 8.9%. The shoe retailer did not share specific information about online sales. It also took over hushpuppies.com, its sixth ecommerce brand website.

Designer Brands noted declines in consumer spending. Forecasts are uncertain due to “competitive inventory, the health of the consumer and overall macroeconomic headwinds,” said Jared Poff, chief financial officer.

Express Inc. (No. 114)

Express reported online sales decreased 1% in the fiscal second quarter ended July 30, 2023. Retail store comparable sales declined 21% during the same period. Consolidated net sales declined 6% to $435.3 million.

Ecommerce sales were a highlight of the quarter, nearly offsetting depressed store sales, particularly in women’s products, the retailer said.

J. Jill (No. 246)

J.Jill reported total net sales declined 2.9% to $155.7 million in the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023. Direct-to-consumer sales decreased 5.1%, representing 44.7% of total sales. Comparable sales, including both stores and DTC, declined 1.3%.

A high rate of online returns continues to hurt margins, the apparel retailer said, though they are starting to stabilize.

Kirkland’s Inc. (No. 518)

Kirkland’s reported online sales declined 16.6% in the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023. Comparable store sales declined 9.7%. Net sales decreased to $89.5 million from $102.1 million in the year-ago period. Declines were due to decreases in traffic and average ticket, the retailer said.

“The second quarter sales results were challenged by lower traffic and the aggressive liquidation efforts in Q2 of last year that presented a tough sales comparison, period over period,” interim CEO Ann Joyce said in a statement.

The Kroger Co. (No. 8)

Kroger reported online sales grew 12% in the fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 12, 2023. Total company sales declined to $33.9 billion from $34.6 billion the previous year. However, excluding fuel, sales increased 1.1%.

“Looking forward, we believe inflation will continue to decelerate and the environment will remain challenging for consumers. We therefore expect identical sales without fuel will be at the low end of our full-year guidance range and slightly negative in the second half of the year,” Gary Millerchip, chief financial officer, said in a written statement.

GameStop Corp. (No. 41)

GameStop reported net sales grew to $1.16 billion from $1.14 billion the previous year for the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023. Net loss was $2.8 million, compared to $108.7 million last year. The retailer did not share additional information on online sales.

Sportsman’s Warehouse (No. 361)

Sportsman’s Warehouse reported net sales declined 11.8% to $309.5 million in the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023.

“We were disappointed with our second-quarter results and the slowdown in store traffic, as the challenging macroeconomic conditions continue to pressure consumer discretionary spending,” interim CEO Joseph Schneider said in a written statement.

However, omnichannel sales were a bright spot, he said, with ecommerce sales outpacing in-store sales.

Zumiez Inc. (No. 452)

Zumiez reported net sales declined 11.6% to $194.4 million in the fiscal second quarter ended July 29, 2023. Net sales for the first six months also declined 14.4% year over year. CEO Rich Brooks called out “continued headwinds facing consumer discretionary spending combined with a heightened promotional marketplace” as explanations for the sales slump.

However, he said back-to-school sales have been promising so far, and are historically a good indicator of upcoming holiday sales.

So what does it mean?

Retailers across the board are seeing consumers cut back on non-essential spending, per ecommerce earnings reports. Even grocery retailer Kroger notes the pullback, although it managed to grow online sales.
Apparel retailers appear to be bearing the brunt of the decline in spending. American Eagle is an exception, growing in-store sales while online sales declined.

In case you missed it: Best Buy, Chewy, Lululemon, Land’s End and more reported last week.

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Etsy sales in Q2 are flat; CEO teases AI, ML expansion

Abbas Haleem — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 18:55:07 +0000

Etsy Inc.’s active buyers reached an all-time high in its fiscal second quarter ended June 30, 2023. Still, Etsy’s gross merchandise sales (GMS) were largely flat.

Etsy gross merchandise sales (GMS)

Etsy sales in Q2 reached $3.0 billion. That’s down 0.6% year over year. Whereas Etsy sales were nearly flat, revenue grew. Etsy revenue reached $628.9 million. That’s up 7.5% from the year-ago period.

The marketplace’s active buyers grew 3% year over year to reach 91 million. It acquired 6 million new buyers and retained 21% more buyers than during the year-ago period. Etsy “retained active buyers at levels above pre-pandemic rates,” it said in an Aug. 2 earnings press release. “On a quarterly basis, active buyer retention trends improved both from the prior year and prior quarter.”

Etsy GMS per active buyer declined 6% year over year to $128 in Q2. The number of habitual buyers “was largely flat” at 7 million.

CEO Josh Silverman said more than a quarter of GMS comes from buyers who purchased again within 14 days of their prior purchase.

Silverman said about 14% of GMS from wedding registries came from new buyers. He added that Etsy is experiencing higher-than-average order value from those items.

“While GMS per buyer has shown early signs of stabilization, taking this metric to new heights is a top priority for us,” Silverman said.

Etsy ranks No. 17 in Digital Commerce 360’s new 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report. The Global Online Marketplaces Database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV.

The online sales of mass merchants like Etsy grew 5.6% in 2022, outpacing the growth rate of total U.S. retail sales (3.3%), according to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce retail data.

Etsy wields AI, machine learning tools

Silverman attributed positive trends to the number of items available on Etsy and the average search result yielding more than 1,000 listings.

“Our product teams are helping buyers more easily navigate the breadth and depth of our sellers’ inventory leveraging the latest AI advances to improve our discovery and inspiration experiences, while surfacing the very best of Etsy,” Silverman said.

He said Etsy has more than double the size of its “Best of Etsy” library in the past quarter. He said expert merchandisers curate the library based on items’ visual appeal, uniqueness and apparent craftsmanship.

“We’re now using this library to train our ML (machine learning) models to better predict of quality of items as perceived by humans,” Silverman said. “We’re seeing encouraging results from first iterations on these models, and I’m optimistic that this work will have a material impact helping us to surface the best of Etsy in every search.”

He said specific to Etsy’s trust and safety, advances in AI and machine learning have enable enforcement models to detect an increasing number of policy violations. Combined with “human knowhow,” he said, that “is starting to have a meaningful impact on the buyer and seller experience.”

Similar to Ebay, Etsy is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to:

Enhance buyer search and recommendations
Streamline sellers’ listing process
Assist with customer queries
Improve fraud detection and safety models

Etsy agrees to sell Elo7

Silverman said Etsy agreed two weeks before its Q2 earnings call to sell its Brazil-based handmade goods marketplace, Elo7. It sold Elo7 to Enjoei, a Brazilian company that operates an online marketplace for clothes and furniture.

Etsy acquired Elo7 in July 2021 and sold it last month for $217 million, according to a Business Insider report.

Moreover, Etsy also owns marketplaces Reverb (No. 45) and Depop (No. 58).

Etsy earnings

For the fiscal second quarter ended June 30, Etsy Inc. reported:

Active buyers reached 91 million. That’s 3% growth and a new company record.
Etsy gross merchandise sales, or GMS, declined to $3.01 billion. That’s down 0.6% from $3.03 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2022.
Etsy revenue grew to $628.88 million. That’s up 7.5% from $585.14 million in the year-ago period.

For the fiscal first half ended June 30, Etsy Inc. reported:

Etsy gross merchandise sales, or GMS, declined to $6.11 billion. That’s down 2.7% from $6.28 billion in the first half of fiscal 2022.
Etsy revenue grew to $1.27 billion. That’s up 9.0% from $1.16 billion in the year-ago period.
Etsy active sellers grew to 8.31 million. That’s up 12.3% from 7.4 million in the previous year.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding.

Check back for more earnings reports.

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Earnings recap: What you missed from Crocs, Mattel and more

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:03:23 +0000

Earnings season is back in earnest, and several retailers in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 list of leading ecommerce retailers in North America have already started reporting. Here’s the earnings summary you need to know from this week. Read more earnings coverage here.

Crocs Inc. (No. 104)

Crocs reported revenue grew 12% year over year to a record $1.1 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended June 30.

“Both the Crocs and Hey Dude brands continue to gain share and bring in new consumers with our comfortable offerings, as evidenced by DTC growth of 26% in the second quarter,” CEO Andrew Rees said in a written statement.

Crocs acquired Hey Dude Shoes in January 2022 for $2.5 billion. Hey Dude brand DTC sales grew 29.7% in the second quarter, and digital sales grew 36.7% in that time period. Total Hey Dude revenue was $239.4 million in the quarter, up 2.9%.

Crocs were a top seller in Amazon’s Prime Day sales event, according to data from Web traffic measurement firm Similarweb Ltd. However, the retailer is facing “quite a lot of pressure” from gray market sellers on Amazon, Rees said in an earnings call.

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (No. 110)

Keurig Dr. Pepper reported net sales grew 6.6% in the second quarter ended June 30 to $3.7 billion. Sales growth was led by Keurig’s Liquid Refreshment Beverage category, which includes carbonated soft drinks, seltzers, and energy drinks. Dr. Pepper and Squirt were among the most popular brands, the beverage company said. Meanwhile, sales of single serving K-Cup pods were down 2.3% in the quarter.

Keurig did not share specifics about digital sales in the quarter. Digital Commerce 360 estimates online sales made up about 6% of total sales in 2022, reaching $859.5 million.

Harley-Davidson (No. 430)

Harley-Davidson’s consolidated revenue declined 2% in the second quarter ended June 30 to $1.4 billion, the retailer reported. The decline was driven by a 4% drop in revenue from Harley-Davidson Motor Company (HDMC), which sells motorcycles and related products. Part of the decline was offset by 19% revenue growth at Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS), which provides financing and insurance to dealers and customers.

The motorcycle retailer did not share specifics of online sales. However, Harley-Davidson is expanding its online marketplace of pre-owned motorcycles.

Mattel (No. 200)

Mattel net sales declined 12% in Q2 ended June 30 to $1.1 billion, the toy company reported. The retailer attributed the decrease to declines in the toy industry as a whole, with the expectation that consumers are waiting to make purchases for the holiday season, CEO Ynon Kreiz told investors.

Following the release of the Barbie movie, Mattel entered 165 product partnerships in thousands of stores, Kreiz said. So far, toys and products related to the film have sold out across distribution channels, Kriez says. Mattel did not share specific figures on digital sales. Mattel president and chief operating officer Richard Dickson was recently appointed as chief executive officer to Gap Inc. (No. 20), effective Aug. 22.

Overstock.com Inc. (No. 50)

Online home furnishings retailer Overstock said revenue was down 20% year over year to $422 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.

The online furniture retailer completed its acquisition of competitor Bed Bath & Beyond in June for $21.5 million. Read more coverage of Overstock’s quarterly earnings here.

Tractor Supply Co. (No. 97)

Tractor Supply net sales grew 7.2% year over year in the second quarter $4.18 billion. Comparable store sales grew 2.5% over the period, which ended July 1.

The retailer announced plans to reach 3,000 U.S. locations from the current 2,164 by opening 90 new stores per year. About 30% of current stores, 700, are now organized in the Project Fusion layout, CEO Hal Lawton told investors. The retailer is adding drive-thru pickup lanes to these stores for omnichannel orders.

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UK crafts retailer uses data to guide website replatforming process

Abbas Haleem — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:45:19 +0000

When it comes to browsing a retailer’s website, not every click is equal, said Jennifer North, head of digital at Hobbycraft.

Hobbycraft had to learn what parts of its website did and didn’t make sense for its shoppers, what bugs to work out, and what changes its website wasn’t capable of. And after about 12 years with its previous website, it replatformed in March 2022.

It used key insights it had gained from years of web traffic data, North said. And it implemented Contentsquare, a digital experience analytics platform, to better understand changes in its website metrics.

Contentsquare “helped us understand what we needed to protect or keep,” North said. “Then it also gave us the ability to say: Based on what we know through Contentsquare, it’s an opportunity to start meeting customer needs in a different way that we hadn’t been able to deliver on the old site.”

For example, in 2017, Hobbycraft’s share of mobile website traffic “radically changed — almost overnight,” North said. Its share increased 20% to 30%.

“We’d taken that site and that technology and that architectural capability to the absolute Nth degree of what we could do with it,” North said. “We’d also optimized it as far as we could as well. It was a known entity to us, so we knew it very well. It had served us all the way through the pandemic.”

Hobbycraft is a United Kingdom-based retail chain that sells arts and crafts supplies. It ranks No. 361 in the Europe 500, Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest ecommerce retailers in the region. About 20% of Hobbycraft’s total sales are digital, according to North.

Better understanding user behavior

She said among other features, Contentsquare tracks rage clicking. Rage clicking is when a user repeatedly clicks on part of a website because it doesn’t perform the way the user expects it to.

One such case of this is when Hobbycraft would have a statement near its checkout cart at the top of the page identifying how many items were in a user’s basket.

“It wasn’t actually a link,” North said. “It was more of an indicator, but we made it an active link that jumped you to that first line in your order because that was what the customer was expecting — what that information was there for. There’s lots of little micro-frictions all over the site that we’re always refining and reading what the customer’s doing.”

Similarly, there was a misunderstanding among consumers who went to check out and saw “gift voucher” as a payment option. The word “voucher” led shoppers to think they should look up coupon codes. Because of that, shoppers would reach the checkout page and then become overly fixated on finding a coupon code online. Hobbycraft then changed the copy and moved elements on the page, and the issue went away.

Seeing the problem clearly

North attributes the ability to understand that behavior to Contentsquare through its analysis of rage clicks and exit rates, and its session replay feature. By watching session replays, Hobbycraft and Contentsquare learned that the country field on the checkout page was editable — but it shouldn’t have been.

“So in some cases, the user was accidentally changing the country, therefore making their checking experience invalid. It had been eluding us for a while,” North said. “Sometimes, it’s really hard for the development team to recreate a bug or it’s impossible for them to do, so you really go around in circles. The session replay is what unlocked it for us.”

Hobbycraft also noticed it received more guest logins than account sign-ins on its login page. Because of that, it moved the guest login option above the user sign-in option, “which helps on a mobile screen,” North said.

“It all starts with the understanding,” said Niki Hall, Contentsquare’s chief marketing officer. “The retailers know what’s happening because they might have Adobe or Google Analytics, but they don’t know the why, so they can’t improve.”

Watching a user’s session allows Hobbycraft’s and Contentsquare’s teams to see exactly what went wrong in a user’s journey.

“When someone’s engaging with your site digitally, how do you understand their non-verbal communication? You really can’t,” Hall said. “You’re kind of flying blind unless you have something like Contentsquare.”

User journeys

North said Hobbycraft analyzes user journeys, segmenting them by traffic source. It also segments sessions with a transaction versus those without to better understand what success — conversion — looks like.

North and her team noticed shoppers exiting Hobbycraft pages because they had gone back to shop through Google, or they would hop to other product pages.

“They might look at seven product pages, and the only way they can really do that is by looking at the recommendations because the only other way to go directly from one product page to another is through the recommendation panel/widget there,” she said. “It’s telling us the consumer has come with an idea in mind of what they want, but they need to go on more of a product discovery journey to find what they want.”

In response, Hobbycraft figured out ways to position recommendations higher on product pages. After a seven-second delay, it shows recommendations of products similar to the one the shopper is viewing. Hobbycraft tested that at two-second, five-second and seven-second intervals before deciding on seven seconds.

Product pages power post-pandemic site

North said a key trend Hobbycraft noticed, for example, is that consumers became less brand loyal coming out of the pandemic. They’re under pressure in terms of cost of living, she said, so they started to shop in a different way.

“That means rather than come to us through an organic or direct landing on our homepage and start in a linear journey, we’re actually seeing that a vast majority of consumers are landing on the site directly on the product page,” North said.

They’re landing directly on product pages through Google shopping searches, she said. And because they aren’t entering Hobbycraft website through its homepage, product pages have to also perform as landing pages and “engage the user when they’re quite far down the funnel.”

That has led Hobbycraft to put a “strong focus on the product page during the replatform,” North said. For example, it has slight variances in product pages depending on if an item is out of stock or if a shopper has landed on the page from a shopping ad.

Moreover, Hobbycraft has increased its investment in paid traffic. About 30% of its traffic now comes from Google paid advertising, such as paid links, she said. The biggest share is still organic, direct traffic, she said. Organic social traffic and paid traffic each reflect about 10% of traffic, she said.

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Europe ecommerce sales and growth by category

Farnia Ghavami — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 18:31:57 +0000

The European ecommerce landscape Each year, the Digital Commerce 360 research team analyzes and ranks the leading ecommerce companies headquartered in Europe in our Europe Database. These leading 500 European companies include some of the world’s most iconic brands such as LVMH, which owns: Louis Vuitton Tiffany & Co. Dior Fendi Tag Heuer Bulgari Givenchi […]

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Prime Day 1 recap: Amazon sales reached $6.4 billion while competitors lagged

Mary Meisenzahl — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 19:30:34 +0000

Amazon’s annual Prime Day two-day sale began on July 11, and early data shows sales grew but did not meet estimates.

Amazon ranks No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s new 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report, and the annual Prime Day sale draws millions of shoppers.

Spending and order size grew modestly

July 11 was the biggest ecommerce day of 2023 so far, according to Adobe Analytics data of 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites and 100 million SKUs. Adobe says U.S. consumers spent $6.4 billion on the first day of the sale, up 5.96% year over year. That’s only slightly lower growth compared with 2022, which was up 6.1% over 2021, per earlier Adobe data.

Sales growth didn’t meet Adobe’s forecast of 9.5%.

“Prime Day has become one of the biggest ecommerce moments of the year, as consumers latch onto major discounts from a number of different retailers,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights Vivek Pandya, in a statement. “The record spending so far shows us that consumers are tapping into their inner bargain hunters, stocking up on specific categories such as electronics and apparel while the discounts remain steep.”

The average order on the first day of Prime Day was $56.64, according to data research company Numerator. That’s up about 6.5% over $53.14 for the same period in 2022. The average household of Prime Day shoppers spent $134 on the first day of the sale, per Numerator, with 20% of households spending over $200.

Consumers focused on appliances, household and grocery products

Appliances led the day, with sales up 37% compared to the daily average in June, Adobe found. Toys, apparel and electronics sales were up 27%, 26%, and 12%, respectively.

Two of the top five products on July 11 were household and grocery products, Numerator found. One Amazon product made the top five list: the Amazon Fire TV stick. This marks a change from previous Prime Days. In 2022, three of the top five items were Amazon brand, and all five were in 2021, according to Numerator.

Home goods was the top category, according to Numerator’s survey of Prime shoppers, with 27% of respondents saying they’d made such purchases. It was closely followed by home essentials (26%) and apparel and shoes (25%). 21% of consumers said they purchased electronics, and 20% shopped for beauty products.

Consumers looked at retailers beyond Amazon

Some of Amazon’s biggest competitors held online sales during Prime Day, and many savvy customers compared prices across retailers. 65% of surveyed shoppers told Numerator that they planned to shop other sales. Target (37%), Walmart (32%), and Costco (20%) were the most popular competitors. Over one-third of shoppers, 35%, did not plan to look beyond Amazon.

However, those competitors didn’t see the same growth as Amazon. Non-Amazon online sales during the first half of the day were down 10% year over year, per technology company Salesforce Inc. Electronics, footwear and furniture were the top categories at non-Amazon retailers in the first half of the day.

Some discounts were down, but consumers didn’t seem to mind

The most significant discounts July 11 on Amazon were electronics (16%), toys (15%), apparel (13%) and computers (10%), according to Adobe. Electronics were available at a much steeper discount than the 6% Adobe recorded in 2022. Computers were also slightly more discounted than last year, compared to 8% off regular prices in 2022.

Prime members were largely pleased with these discounts, according the the Numerator survey. 68% said they were extremely or very satisfied with the deals, and 67% believed deals so far were better or the same as last year. Just 15% said 2023 was worse than 2022, while 19% were unsure.

Discounts were not as promising for shoppers at Amazon’s competitors. The average price discount among non-Amazon retailers is 18%, a 17% decrease from 2022, according to Salesforce. Average prices were up 6% over last year, a sign of continued inflation, per Salesforce.

Better sales could still be coming, though.

“With soft online sales reflecting lackluster online discounts, consumers in the U.S. shouldn’t despair. We anticipate retailers will ratchet up discounts before the end of Prime Day,” Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail at Salesforce, said in a statement.

Not all prices are marked down on Prime Day, though. Last year, Amazon merchants raised prices 3% or more on 13.72% of the top 10,000 selling items on the Amazon marketplace, according to a report from Noogata, an artificial-intelligence data analytics platform for Amazon sellers.

Early sales may have eaten into Prime Day

Many other retailers started sales earlier than Amazon’s official start.

“According to early data from Prime Day in the U.S., it looks like retailers may have beaten Amazon to the punch by running promotions last week,” Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail at Salesforce said in a statement.

More retailers held 4th of July promotions than offered site-wide sales to compete with Amazon’s Prime Days on Tuesday, according to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of the Top 1000.

Amazon held its own pre-Prime Day sales, too. Crocs were the most popular item sold on Amazon during the week of June 26 through July 2, followed by the Kindle Paperwhite and Apple Airpods, according to web traffic measurement firm Similarweb Ltd.

From July 1 to July 8, consumers searched for “portable air conditioners” and “electric bike” more than any other terms on Amazon. Crocs also remained popular, according to Similarweb. Searches for “Roku” and “TV” dominated the electronics category, and the Nintendo Switch was the most searched for video game term.

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These retailers announced sales competing with Amazon Prime Day: Walmart, Target, and more

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 16:05:20 +0000

Amazon will hold its annual Prime Day sale on July 11 and 12, and other retailers have begun announcing competing sales. During the sale event, the No. 1 ranked retailer in Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers offers deals across product categories. It’s historically one of Amazon’s biggest sales days.

Top ecommerce retailers have held competing sales in previous years, sometimes even directly mentioning Prime Day. These are the sales that have been announced so far. We will continue updating this page as more are announced.

Best Buy Black Friday in July

Best Buy Co. Inc. is holding a holiday-themed sale event July 10-12, the retailer announced. Customers can find sales on TVs, laptops, and other personal tech products, the retailer said. The sale will take place on Best Buy’s website, it’s app, and in stores.

Though the sale is open to all consumers, certain deals are limited only to rewards members, the retailer says.

Best Buy ranks No. 7 in the Top 1000.

BJ’s Wholesale Wow Days

BJ’s Wholesale Club is holding a sales event for members on July 10 through July 12. Discounts on some seasonal items are as high as 65% off, the retailer said in a statement. Electronics, furniture, and kitchen appliances also part of the sale.

BJ’s ranks No. 69 in the Top 1000.

Costco

Costco is holding a members-only sale from June 21 through July 23. Deals span the warehouse store’s offerings, including big ticket items like mattresses, sectional couches and refrigerators, and lower-priced items like snacks, skincare, and cleaning products. Some deals are only available in stores. Others are available online, but include a delivery fee.

Hasbro

Toy maker Hasbro announced it will sell Furby for the first time since 2016 during Amazon Prime Day. The nostalgic 1990’s toy will be available exclusively on Amazon until July 15, in honor of its 25th anniversary.

Habro ranks No. 556 in the Top 1000.

Le Creuset

French cookware company Le Creuset is holding a summer sale coinciding with Prime Day. Pieces are up to 35% during the Summer Cookware Savings Event, through July 15. Stock pots, frying pans, crepe pans, and some of the brand’s signature enamel-coated pieces are included in the sale.

Macy’s Black Friday in July

Macy’s inc. is discounting products across clothing, shoes, toys, home goods, and more through July 12. The retailer says sales are as high as 75% off on some items, including sheets.

Macy’s ranks No. 17 in the Top 1000.

Newegg Fantastech Sale

Ecommerce technology retailer Newegg Commerce Inc. will hold a sale July 10-14. The presale begins earlier, on July 5. The sale includes the “most coveted tech products like desktop PC systems, laptops and PC hardware; lifestyle tech like smart home devices, drones, e-bikes and vacuums; and entertainment tech including home audio,” Newegg says.

The retailer seems to call out Amazon in its press release, writing “Unlike other July online sales, customers do not need to be enrolled in a membership program to access deals.”

Newegg ranks No. 58 in the Top 1000.

Overstock 72 Hour Flash Sale

Overstock.com Inc. is holding a three day sale competing with Amazon on its home decor and furnishings. The online retailer, which recently acquired rights to the Bed Bath & Beyond brand, says more than 500,000 SKUs are on sale. Sales through the app will have an additional discount, Overstock says.

Overstock ranks No. 50 in the Top 1000.

Target Circle Week

Target Corp. will hold a sales event July 9-15 for Target Circle members, the retailer said. Circle is the retailer’s free rewards program.

The general merchandise retailer says sale prices will be as much as 50% off on Target’s white label brands, along with discounts on national brands like Dyson and Keurig. Deals will be available online and in stores.

Target ranks No. 5 in the Top 1000.

Walmart+ Week

Walmart will hold its first Walmart+ Week beginning July 10, the retailer announced. The online sales event directly overlaps with Prime Days.

The first 24 hours of Walmart’s sale will only be available to Walmart+ members, the retailer said. On July 11, the sale is open to anyone. Amazon Prime Day sales are only available to Prime members.

Walmart did not hold a competing sale event in 2022. Walmart ranks No. 2 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000.

Wayfair 72 Hour Clearout

Home goods retailer Wayfair Inc. is selling most of its inventory at a discount for 72 hours around Prime Day. Discounts are as high as 60%, the retailer says. Area rugs, bedding, and light fixtures have some of the steepest discounts.

Wayfair ranks No. 10 in the Top 1000.

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The post These retailers announced sales competing with Amazon Prime Day: Walmart, Target, and more appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

29 takeaways from ranking the largest online retailers by category

Farnia Ghavami — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 16:41:33 +0000

U.S. ecommerce sales grew 7.7% in 2022, but the Top 1000 online retailers only grew 5.1% — a big change from the double-digit growth they have seen in previous years. This month’s analysis consists of looking at the Top 5 leaders in each Top 1000 category and by merchant type, getting a sneak peek of […]

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