Amazon AMZN seems to be firing on all cylinders this holiday season on the back of its robust e-commerce platform.
A survey conducted by Teikametrics shows that both online as well as off-line retailers witnessed a last-minute shopping rush on the last Saturday before Christmas. Although offline stores remained the first option for the 56% of the responders, Amazon dominated the online space with 40% of the responders choosing it as their option.
This reflects the dominance of Amazon as it remains the first choice in the e-commerce space for the shoppers. Further, obtaining attention of almost half of the responders among all the retailers is a significant feat. This can be attributed to a sharp shift in the shopping pattern of customers.
Strong Holiday Initiatives
Amazon’s strong holiday initiatives are helping it in reaping benefits from a shift in the shopping pattern of the customers. Notably, customers prefer online shopping over a retail store.
Per a report from Adobe’s ADBE analytics segment, the online shoppers have spent $110.6 billion starting from Nov 1 to Dec 11 this year in America. Notably, the figure is up 17.8% from 2017.
Further, the report forecasts total online sales of $126 billion till Jan 31, 2019.
Amazon is providing a gift guide on its e-commerce platform which is aiding the shoppers in narrowing their searches as per their need.
Further, the company has enhanced its product portfolio with gift items, especially unique handmade items from local artisans via Amazon Handmade. Moreover, its toy initiative remains a major positive as toys were one of the largest selling products this season.
Moreover, deep discounts on items across toys, electronics, groceries, fashion, beauty, kitchen, home furnishings, smart home, gaming, automobile, sports and pet products segments are aiding its performance this holiday season.
Strengthening Competitive Position
Amazon with all the above mentioned initiatives is likely to gain a competitive edge against Walmart WMT and Target TGT which are also leaving no stone unturned to get a piece of this market pie.
Both the retail giants have accelerated their shipping program in order to up their games against Amazon.
Further, these retailers have also expanded their toy assortment to gain traction during the holiday season.
However, Amazon’s vast seller base, strengthening delivery services and expanding product availability are helping it in reaching out to the customers during the peak hours of this holiday season. This is acting as a tailwind for the company.
Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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