Coming off an outstanding Black Friday, Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is rolling into Cyber Monday as the unquestioned leader among internet retail stocks. Amazon is poised to bring home a healthy percentage of the $6.6 billion in sales that are expected to be recorded Monday during the biggest online shopping event of the year in the U.S.
After years of impressive growth, the shift from brick-and-mortar retail to e-commerce seems to have reached a tipping point. Shoppers are expected to spend $1.6 billion more this year on Cyber Monday that they did on Black Friday. In addition, a Fung Global Retail Technology survey found that 82 percent of shoppers plan to buy a gift online this holiday season compared to just 77 percent who plan to buy gifts at a physical store.
Amazon accounts for a massive percentage of those online holiday sales. Fung found that three-fourths of online shoppers will purchase from Amazon this year. As many as 90 percent of Amazon’s Prime subscribers will shop on the platform this holiday season. CIRP estimates more than 90 million U.S. homes have an Amazon Prime subscription.
Last year, Slice Intelligence estimated that Amazon accounted for 30.9 percent of all online spending over the so-called Cyber Weekend. Best Buy Co. (BBY) was a distant second with 7.4 percent online share followed by Target Corp. (TGT, 4.4 percent) and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, 4.1 percent).
“Walmart’s earnings last quarter showed a 50 percent year-over-year gain in online sales, potentially positioning the company to better compete with Amazon,” TD Ameritrade chief strategist JJ Kinahan says.
Target and Walmart are pushing hard to up their Cyber Weekend market share with special deals this year, and Kinahan says investors should be watching closely to see if they make any headway. “AMZN is already trying to counter WMT and other competitors with pre-holiday sales, and pulled in 38 percent of all online holiday dollars last year,” he says.
Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, says Amazon already recorded “eye-popping” numbers this year on Black Friday, banking an estimated 45 to 50 percent of all e-commerce sales.
“With e-commerce Black Friday sales on a trajectory to increase roughly 18 percent year-over-year, these are very positive data points heading into Cyber Monday and the rest of holiday season for Amazon and its investors,” Ives says in a research note published this weekend. “We believe the average Prime customer is forecasted to spend between roughly 20 to 25 percent more this holiday season than the year ago period, coupled by major growth in U.S./international Prime members, should be setting the stage for a game-changer holiday season for Bezos & Co.”
It’s certainly no coincidence that Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart, three of the top Cyber Monday performers, have also been…
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