Parentheses indicate the merchant’s ranking in the Top 1000, unless otherwise stated. The database ranks North America’s largest ecommerce retailers by their annual web sales.

This week’s ecommerce earnings takeaways

• Johnson & Johnson saw a 4.3% increase in net sales for its second fiscal quarter of 2024.
• Resale- and franchise-focused Winmark Corp.’s growth remained flat as overall merchandise sales declined.

Johnson & Johnson (No. 358)

Q2 2024 earnings: Johnson & Johnson reported that net sales grew to $22.4 billion in its fiscal second quarter, which ended June 30. That’s up 4.3% year over year. The company’s earnings do not break out ecommerce sales. However, it did note offerings that boosted sales during the period.

“Johnson & Johnson’s second quarter performance reflects our relentless focus on advancing the next wave of medical innovation and resulted in strong sales and adjusted operational earnings per share growth,” said Joaquin Duato, chairman and chief executive officer at Johnson & Johnson. “With a robust pipeline, upcoming regulatory milestones for Rybrevant and Tremfya, the integration of Shockwave, and continued expansion of newly launched products, including Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day contact lenses and our Varipulse platform, we have a strong foundation for near and long-term growth.”

Birks Group Inc. (No. 1766)

FY 2024 earnings: The Birks Group announced that net sales increased 13.7% year over year to $185.3 million (CAD) in its 2024 fiscal year that ended June 29, ultimately leading to a net loss of $4.6 million (CAD). The jewelry retailer credited demand for watches and jewelry during the period and noted that it plans to invest in its website and ecommerce platform.

Read more on Birks Group’s earnings here.

Goodfood Market Corp. (No. 538)

Q3 2024 earnings: Goodfood Market Inc. said that net sales decreased 8.5% year over year to $38.6 million (CAD) in its third fiscal quarter of 2024 that ended June 1. Goodfood attributed the drop to a lower number of active customers, even as average order value increased.

The meal solutions company noted that it was optimizing prices, increasing its variety of meal kits and integrating grocery-product add-ons as it looks to improve sales.

“With our strengthened financial position, we enter the fourth quarter, which is typically marked by a seasonal slowdown in business activity as customers spend more time outside of their homes, with the opportunity to build additional momentum on the implementation of our intrinsic and external growth plan,” said Jonathan Ferrari, CEO at Goodfood.

Winmark Corp. (No. 1567)

Q2 2024 earnings: Winmark Corp. recorded nearly flat growth (a 0.6% increase) year over year with $10.4 million in net income for its second fiscal quarter in 2024. Merchandise sales for the quarter fell 30.3% from the same quarter a year earlier to $925,500.

“Year-to-date growth in royalties resulted from higher overall store count and, to a lesser extent, increases in per unit performance,” said Brett D. Heffes, chair and chief executive officer at Winmark.

The company, whose resale-focused franchises include Plato’s Closet, Play It Again Sports and Music Go Round counted a total of 1,336 franchises operating at the end of the quarter.

Other recent ecommerce earnings results

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

Q4 2024: Alibaba said it grew revenue 7% year over year in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024. Meanwhile, net income decreased 96% compared to the prior Q4.

Alibaba owns the world’s two largest online marketplaces by gross merchandise value (GMV), Taobao and Tmall. Taobao ranks No. 1 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest such marketplaces by third-party GMV. Tmall ranks No. 2. Both operate in China.

Read more on Alibaba’s earnings here.

Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1)

Q1 2024 earnings: Amazon net sales increased 13% to $143.3 billion in its fiscal first quarter. Meanwhile, its operating income more than tripled.

It ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

Read more on Amazon’s earnings results here.

Aritzia Inc. (No. 154)

Q1 2025 earnings: Aritzia Inc. recorded a year-over-year net sales increase of 7.8% to $498.6 million for its first fiscal quarter of 2025, which ended June 2. In addition, the luxury apparel retailer said its ecommerce net revenue increased 4.2% to $140.8 million for the same period, accounting for 28.2% of its net revenue.

The company has been investing in digital marketing and updated investors on its planned website relaunch for 2024.

“We expect the improved site to go live in the back half of this fiscal year,” Aritzia CEO Jennifer Wong told investors during the Q1 earnings call. “Other initiatives to drive digital include improving our online merchandising, optimizing our omni-channel capabilities, enhancing our international ecommerce site, and developing a mobile app.”

Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. (No. 409)

Q2 2024: Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. reported a 17.1% drop in net sales year over year to $83.4 million for its second fiscal quarter of 2024, which ended June 1. The decrease came as the company took an $8.5 million operating loss for the period and a restructuring plan that includes shuttering its Noa Home ecommerce business.

“Bassett Furniture has a long history of weathering economic cycles, such as the inflationary environment and slow housing market we’re experiencing in 2024 — factors that led to soft demand in our second quarter,” said Bassett Furniture CEO Robert H. Spilman in the retailer’s earnings announcement. “The business climate has remained difficult through the first six months of this year and may not improve in the near future.”

Helen of Troy Limited (No. 190)

Q1 2025 earnings: Helen of Troy Limited said that net sales declined 12.2% year over year to $416.8 million in its first fiscal quarter of 2025, which ended May 31. The housewares and home furnishings retailer also lowered its annual outlook as it proceeds with its Project Pegasus restructuring plan.

“Project Pegasus continues to provide us with fuel to fund our initiatives and organizational focus to capture opportunities and leverage our scale,” said Helen of Troy CEO Noel M. Geoffroy. “We also invested in new talent and next-level data, analytics and capabilities to improve our effectiveness and productivity across the enterprise.”

The Home Depot Inc. (No. 4)

Q1 2024: Home Depot reported that sales declined 2.3% in its fiscal first quarter of 2024 ended April 28 due to challenges in the broader economy. B2B and Pro sales were equally impacted, while online sales grew.

Target Corp. (No. 5)

Q 1 2024: Target reported that total revenue declined 3.1%. That’s down to $24.5 billion in the first quarter of its fiscal 2024 ended May 4. However, online sales did increase slightly. Declines in discretionary categories were partially offset by continuing growth in the beauty category.

Read more on Target’s earnings results here.

Walmart Inc. (No. 2)

Q1 2025: Walmart grew U.S. online sales 22% for its fiscal 2025 first quarter ended April 30, 2024. Consolidated revenue grew 6.0% to $161.5 billion in Q1.

Read more on Walmart’s earnings here.

Ecommerce earnings calendar

Here’s when other ecommerce earnings are scheduled to report this quarter:

• Carvana Co.: July 31
• Adidas AG: July 31
• Amazon.com: Aug. 1

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Ecommerce earnings recap: What you missed from Johnson & Johnson, Winmark and more appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

That increase led to net sales of $185.3 million (CAD) and gross profit of $73.6 million for the same period. For the same period, however, the company recorded a net loss of $4.6 million (CAD). That was smaller than the net loss of $7.4 million (CAD) that it saw in 2023.

Birks Group earnings for fiscal 2024

For its full fiscal year, Birks Group saw an increase in comparable store sales of 7.5%, and an improvement in gross profit of 8.2%. It also reported a positive operating income.

In addition to robust product demand, Jean-Christophe Bédos, president and chief executive officer of Birks Group, touted enhanced customer experience at the store level for boosting sales.

“We are pleased with the store renovation projects that were undertaken last year at our Chinook and Laval stores, which resulted in higher sales post opening,” Bédos said, adding that the company is continuing to invest in product mix and customer experience.

Among risks and uncertainties cited in forward-looking statements, the company noted that it plans to “evaluate the productivity of existing stores, close unproductive stores and open new stores in new prime retail locations, and invest in its website and ecommerce platform.”

Digital Commerce 360 reached out to The Birks Group for more comment and context but did not hear back.

Birks ranks No. 1766 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database of the largest North American e-retailers by online sales. Digital Commerce 360 classified Birks in the Jewelry category.

Inflation and other conditions

Bédos commented that the strong sales are especially noteworthy given the inflationary headwinds that consumers have been facing.

The Birks Group is a staple of the luxury jewelry market in Canada, operating 24 stores under the Birks brand in most major metro markets in Canada. They also operate stores under the Brinkhaus, Graff and Patek Philippe nameplates. Birks jewelry is also available at some U.S. retailers, such as Saks Fifth Avenue.

Other highlights from Birk’s annual earnings report included:

• Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses in fiscal 2024 were $65.7 million (CAD), or 35.5% of net sales. That compares to $66.1 million (CAD), or 40.6% of net sales in fiscal 2023, a decrease of $0.4 million (CAD).
• The earnings report cited that the main drivers of the decrease in SG&A expenses in fiscal 2024 include lower marketing costs of $1.3 million (CAD) and lower non-cash stock-based compensation expenses of $2.0 million (CAD) due to the fluctuations in the Company’s stock price during the fiscal year.
• The company’s earnings before taxes interest and depreciation (EBITDA) for fiscal 2024 were $10.0 million (CAD), an increase of $6.2 million (CAD), compared to an EBITDA of $3.8 million (CAD) for fiscal 2023.

The company’s reported operating income for fiscal 2024 was $1.2 million (CAD), an increase of $5.0 million (CAD), compared to a reported operating loss of $3.8 million (CAD) for fiscal 2023.

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Watches and jewelry power sales in Birks Group earnings despite loss appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

At the same time, Salesforce has been expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) suite and its corresponding large language models (LLMs). CEO Marc Benioff said in an earnings call with investors that web users create “hundreds of petabytes of data” each day that AI models can use for training and generating output. One petabyte is the same as 1 million gigabytes, which is also the same as 1,000 terabytes.

Benioff said Salesforce is now managing more than 250 petabytes of data for its customers. That will “be absolutely critical as they move into artificial intelligence,” he said.

“The one thing that every enterprise needs to make AI work is their customer data, as well as the metadata that describes the data, which provides the attributes and context the AI models need to generate accurate, relevant output,” Benioff said. “And customer data and metadata are the new gold for these enterprises.”

He said that growth in Salesforce data is giving momentum to Data Cloud, and that “it’s the first step to becoming an AI enterprise.”

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2023, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $136.077 billion in web sales.

Salesforce had cut 10% of its staff in January 2023. The job cuts cost the company $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion. As much as $1 billion of that came in its fiscal fourth quarter.

AI continues to guide Salesforce revenue growth in Q1

The 11% growth rate matches the rate at which Salesforce revenue increased in its fiscal Q4 2024. Of its $9.13 billion in total revenue during Q1, Salesforce brought in $8.59 billion from subscriptions and support. That’s a 12% year-over-year increase.

Although revenue grew at the same rate in the last two quarters and exceeded $9 billion, this marked the second time since Q1 of fiscal 2021 that Salesforce revenue did not grow quarter over quarter. Gross profit grew to $6.91 billion in Q1 2024, from $6.12 billion in the year-ago period.

Chief financial officer Amy Weaver said revenue was at the lower end of Salesforce’s previous guidance because of “continuing pressures on professional services, some license revenue volatility and the continued measured buying environment.”

In the Americas, she said, Salesforce revenue grew 11% year over year. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), it grew 10%. In Asia-Pacific, it grew 14%. Weaver added that from an industry perspective, the public sector and financial services both performed well. She said retail and consumer goods “were more constrained.”

Benioff said Data Cloud was included in a quarter of Salesforce’s $1 million-plus deals in Q1. Additionally, Salesforce added more than 1,000 Data Cloud customers for the second straight quarter.

Einstein — Salesforce’s platform that allows users to connect their data, customer relationship management and more using artificial intelligence — is generating hundreds of billions of predictions per day, he said. That’s trillions per week, he added.

Salesforce Connections 2024

Salesforce recently announced new AI, Data Cloud and Commerce Cloud features at its Connections 2024 conference at McCormick Place in Chicago in late May. At the conference, president and chief marketing officer Ariel Kelman showed Salesforce’s new features during the main keynote. He highlighted the software company’s generative AI-powered copilots, including specific ones for merchants and marketers. Salesforce also announced Commerce Cloud updates for checkout, headless commerce, composable commerce and digital engagement.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s update.

Do you rank in our database?

Submit your data with this quick survey and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Salesforce revenue grows in fiscal Q1 behind AI push appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The latest Ecommerce Conversion Report from Digital Commerce 360 breaks down which types of merchants are seeing the best results in today’s digital environment. More importantly, however, the report showcases examples of the conversion strategies that shoppers seem to like, as well as the strategies that successful online retailers say are working for them.

What’s in the 2024 Ecommerce Conversion report?

In the report, Digital Commerce 360 highlights 2023 online conversion rate data among North America’s Top 2000 retailers, what retailers are doing in 2024 to boost conversion, what they can do to boost it going forward, as well as what works — and doesn’t — for online shoppers. It also features conversion rate data by merchant type and merchandise category.

The report highlights seven key factors that affect conversion rates in 2024:

1. Price and shipping
2. Trust
3. Social media
4. Customer service
5. Mobile experience
6. Personalization
7. Omnichannel options

What kinds of retailers have the best online conversion rates?

In 2023, a year defined by inflation, uncertainty and industrywide shifts in favor of efficiency, conversions got more difficult for online retailers. After years of relative stability, the median conversion rate fell for retailers in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000. They dipped to 2.7% in 2023 from 2.8% in both 2022 and 2021. The full report also includes data for the next 1000 largest online retailers.

If the past few years are any indication of how online conversion rates are faring so far in 2024, the best are among what Digital Commerce 360 refers to as “direct marketers.” These are mostly retailers with roots in selling via catalogs, along with a handful that market their wares via TV shopping shows.

Although the group’s conversion rate dipped in 2023 — as was the case for all four merchant types — it still outperformed the other three groups as well as the Top 1000’s combined median rate across merchant types. Direct marketers’ median conversion rate fell to 3.7% in 2023. That’s down from 4.1% in 2021. Meanwhile, retail chains had the next-highest median conversion rate over the previous three years. Falling to 2.9% in 2023 from 3.2% in 2021, they still outperformed the Top 1000 as a whole.

2024 Ecommerce Conversion Report

Discover winning strategies used by top retailers to increase conversions. This report includes over 15 charts, shopper insights, a review of trending conversion tactics like omnichannel and personalization, and the Top 5 ways to increase conversions.

View Details

Do you rank in our database?

Submit your data with this quick survey and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Online conversion rates have dipped going into 2024. Here’s what we know. appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Just holding a potential customer’s attention in a world awash in digital channels and distractions can be a singular challenge. Nevertheless, motivating each buyer to finish the checkout process is what ultimately drives business outcomes for ecommerce sites.

New data on ecommerce conversion rates

The latest Ecommerce Conversion Report from Digital Commerce 360 breaks down which merchant types are seeing the best results in today’s digital environment. More importantly, however, the report showcases examples of the conversion strategies that shoppers seem to like, as well as the strategies that successful online retailers say are working for them.

2024 Ecommerce Conversion Report

Discover winning strategies used by top retailers to increase conversions. This report includes over 15 charts, shopper insights, a review of trending conversion tactics like omnichannel and personalization, and the Top 5 ways to increase conversions.

View Details

First, take a look at how rates shifted in 2023. According to Digital Commerce 360’s analysis of results from retailers ranked in the Top 1000 database, the highest-ranked 2000 retailers in North America by web sales saw their conversion rates fall to 2.7% in 2023. That was down from 2.8% in 2022.

The year-over-year change in conversion rates varied slightly across categories. For instance, consumer brand manufacturers fell to 2.4%, the lowest among categories, from 2.5% in 2022. Direct marketers remained the most successful category at 3.7%. Yet even that was down from 3.9% in 2022 and 4.1% in 2021.

Strategies that are working

So what are online retailers doing to minimize drop-offs and sustain better conversion rates? The new report breaks down approaches and best practices among companies including Ikea, Overstock, Newegg, and more, with insights into the choices and priorities that they see translating into sales.

Readers working in online retail can expand their toolsets in areas such as:

• Building trust with shoppers
• Getting price and shipping right
• Knowing what to try on social media
• Keeping customer service in focus
• Mobile experiences
• Omnichannel options
• Personalization

The Ecommerce Conversion Report also contains takeaways from exclusive survey data that gets inside the heads of shoppers, asking them questions about which online platforms’ ads they are most likely to click and what their most common reasons are for leaving items in their shopping carts.

In addition, the report comes with actionable recommendations based on these findings. All of this is accompanied by more than 15 charts to make the data easier to digest.

It’s a deep look into one of the most vital metrics that any ecommerce site can track. Still, it’s one we know a lot about — and it’s a problem that has solutions.

Do you rank in our database?

Submit your data with this quick survey and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post How retailers are improving conversion rates in 2024 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

“We’ve had just an incredible quarter, well, actually we’ve just had an incredible year here at Salesforce with strong performance across all of our key metrics — revenue, margin,” and others, including earnings per share and cash flow, said Salesforce Inc. CEO Marc Benioff on a Feb. 28 earnings call with investors.

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2022, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $116.97 billion in web sales.

Salesforce said in January that global online sales during the holiday season reached $1.17 trillion. The ecommerce software provider defined the holiday season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.

Salesforce revenue sources

In Q4, Salesforce revenue grew to $9.29 billion. That’s 11% growth over $8.38 billion in Q4 FY2022. Salesforce subscription and support accounted for $8.75 billion in Q4 revenue. That’s 12% year-over-year growth. Professional services and other revenues decreased 9% year over year in Q4, to $539 million from $595 million.

For the full fiscal 2023, Salesforce revenue increased to $34.86 billion. That’s 11% growth from $31.35 billion in FY 2023.

“Pretty awesome at our size and scale — incredible,” Benioff said.

Salesforce subscription and support revenue totaled $32.54 billion, up 12% from 29.02 billion in FY 2023. Meanwhile, Salesforce professional and other revenues remained mostly flat at $2.32 billion, versus $2.33 billion in 2022.

The number of Salesforce deals worth more than $10 million grew 78% year over year. Salesforce closed 86,000 multi-cloud deals. Additionally, Salesforce closed 1,300 deals for its Einstein 1 Platform.

Salesforce had cut 10% of its staff in January 2023. The job cuts cost the company $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion. As much as $1 billion of that came in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Salesforce strengthens its tech stack

The ecommerce platform provider announced an integration to offer Amazon’s Buy with Prime for Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

In August, Salesforce expanded Commerce Cloud for sales, service and marketing. Three key additions:

• Reorder Portal
• Order Support
• Pay Now

It also began rolling out generative AI technology in 2023. And in January, it released a new lineup of generative AI tools at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show. As part of the new rollout, Salesforce debuted Page Designer, a tool that allows retailers to build web pages through text prompts. Retailers can customize the design or specify that it mirrors existing branded web pages.

Benioff said Salesforce’s “rich set of applications” is filling its platform “with the data and the metadata that our customers need to be successful. And there is no other time in the history of our industry that that rich data and metadata together in one place is so important, because that is what you’re going to need to drive this artificial intelligence.”

Salesforce earnings summary

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31:

• Salesforce revenue grew to $9.29 billion. That’s up 11% from $8.38 billion in the prior Q4.
• Gross profit increased year over year to $7.14 billion, from $6.28 billion in the year-ago period.

For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31:

• Salesforce revenue increased to $34.86 billion. That’s 11% growth from $31.35 billion in FY 2023.
• Gross profit grew year over year to $26.32 billion from $22.99 billion.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. 

Do you rank in our databases?

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Salesforce revenue grows 11% in Q4 as application offerings expand appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The ecommerce software provider defined the holiday season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. Year over year, Salesforce said, global online sales grew 3%. Moreover, the global average discount rate across the entire holiday season was 21%. That’s the highest it has been since 2020, Salesforce said. Salesforce uses data from more than 1.5 billion global shoppers.

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2022, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $116.97 billion in web sales.

Meanwhile, U.S. online holiday spending reached $221.1 billion, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

How much did global ecommerce sales grow during the 2023 holiday season?

By week, the largest sales growth during the holiday season was a tie between Cyber Week (the week encompassing Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday) and pre-Christmas, according to Salesforce data. Each of those weeks grew sales 6% year over year, Salesforce reported. The next-highest sales growth (4%) was in the first week of November. Christmas-week sales growth declined 4% year over year.

Based on Salesforce’s data, order growth was correlated with sales growth during the 2023 holiday season. Cyber Week and pre-Christmas week each recorded 6% year-over-year order volume growth in 2023. Meanwhile, order volume during the first week of the holiday season grew 2% year over year, Salesforce said. Christmas-week order volume declined 6%.

For the holiday season as a whole, order volume grew 2% year over year, Salesforce said. That correlated with 2% year-over-year growth in units per transaction growth, and the increase in average selling price was 0.7% year over year, Salesforce said.

How popular was store pickup in the 2023 holiday season?

Each week of the 2023 holiday season, at least 22% of orders were picked up at stores, Salesforce found — or more than one out of every five orders. That grew to at least a quarter of all orders from the week after Thanksgiving through Christmas week, according to Salesforce, with about a third of orders (33%) being picked up at stores during Christmas week.

Share of online orders picked up at store during the 2023 holiday season, according to Salesforce.

Mobile shopping trends during the 2023 holidays

Traffic to mobile devices grew year over year during each week of the holiday season, Salesforce said. The largest growth in mobile traffic, 10%, was during Cyber Week. The first week of the holiday season, post-Cyber Week, and the week before Christmas each recorded 9% growth in mobile traffic, according to Salesforce.

In contrast, desktop web traffic decreased each week of the holiday season, Salesforce found.

What channels drove the most online traffic through the holiday season?

Each week of the holiday season, direct traffic accounted for the largest source of online retailers’ global website visits. From Nov. 1 through the end of December, Salesforce data shows, direct traffic accounted for 37% of all visits to online retailers’ websites, with three exceptions. During and directly preceding Cyber Week, that traffic source bumped up slightly to 38%. On Christmas week, it dipped slightly to 36%.

Search traffic accounted for about a third of all website visits throughout the 2023 holiday season, Salesforce found, hovering between 31% and 33% each week. Internal traffic accounted for 14% to 15% of visits each week during that time frame, and traffic from social media platforms combined for 10% to 11% of total visits each week. Advertising and email traffic each accounted for just 1% of global visits to online retailers’ websites.

Global web traffic growth from social media platforms grew 10% year over year in the first week of the 2023 holiday season, tied with the mid-season week halfway between Cyber Week and Christmas. Such traffic from social media platforms was its lowest during the holiday season during Christmas week (4%).

Advertisement traffic growth increased the most in the mid-season week (27%) and the week before Christmas (23%). The week before Thanksgiving, advertising traffic growth decreased 4%, the only week with negative ad traffic growth during the season.

Email and direct traffic were the only other channels to have negative growth during the 2023 holiday season, according to Salesforce data. Email traffic growth decreased 2% the week before Christmas, with a larger drop (-16%) during Christmas week. Direct traffic growth also decreased year over year (2%) during Christmas week.

How did returns factor into the 2023 holiday season?

Salesforce data shows that returns during the 2023 holiday season were largely consistent with the 2022 season. The percentage of orders consumers returned each week was essentially flat, with the exception that they grew to 19% during Christmas week in 2023, compared with 16% in 2022. They also grew slightly in the second week of November 2023 (11%) compared with the same week in 2022 (10%).

Share of orders consumers returned during each week of the holiday season in 2023 and 2022, according to Salesforce data.

Returns dipped slightly to 10% during the first week of November 2023 from 11% in 2022, and to 4% during Cyber Week 2023 compared with 5% in 2022.

Do you rank in our database?

Submit your data with this quick survey and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Salesforce: Global ecommerce spending reached $1.17 trillion during 2023 holiday season appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Trends and Facts from the Next 1000 Hardware & Home Improvement online retailers:

• Next 1000 Hardware & Home Improvement online retailers grew online sales 6.8% in 2022.
• Next 1000 Hardware & Home Improvement online retailers sold over $1 billion online in goods in 2022.
• Total retail sales for Hardware & Home Improvement in the U.S. grew 6.3% in 2022.
• Total retail sales for Hardware & Home Improvement in the U.S. reached $530 billion in 2022.

Top 5 online retailers in the category:

• Tekton Inc. (No. 1,007)
• In the Swim (No. 1,008)
• Stark Bro’s Nurseries & Orchards Co. (No. 1,020)
• Cyberweld (No. 1,034)
• Proven Winners LLC (No. 1,044)

Shopper demographics in the category:

• Ages 18 to 24: 12% of shoppers
• Ages 25 to 34: 20% of shoppers
• Ages 35 to 44: 19% of shoppers
• Ages 45 to 54: 18% of shoppers
• Ages 55 to 64: 18% of shoppers
• Ages 65 and up: 14% of shoppers

Do you rank in our database?

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

More Charts & Data Stories

Check back soon for more Charts & Data Stories, like our weekly B2B infographics. We add new content regularly. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish new content.

The post Hardware & Home Improvement online retailers’ category snapshot [Next 1000] appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The post Apparel & Accessories online retailers’ category snapshot [Next 1000] appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Signifyd provides fraud prevention services to web merchants. Its network includes 115 retailers in the 2023 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 ranking of North America’s leading online retailers.

Across Signifyd’s network, fraud attempts are 20% lower compared to the 2022 holiday season, says J. Bennett, chief customer officer at Signifyd. He says that’s because last year, there was a big and sophisticated wave of fraud attempts engineered by a crime ring in Southeast Asia, and that has not been repeated this year.

“Last year was the first time we saw a pretty broad-based attack during the holidays,” Bennett says. “This year, we’re seeing measurable levels internationally, but not in the U.S. market.”

Signifyd estimates U.S. online retailers lost $660 million in fraud in November 2022 alone, mostly theft of such high-end items as:

• Laptops
• Mobile phones
• Computer chips
• Gaming devices

2024 Top 1000 Report

Analysis of North America’s leading 1,000 online retailers. Includes over 175 charts, rankings by annual web sales, benchmarking data, and growth analyses by category and merchant type.

View Details

Meanwhile, Signifyd says online sales for the season are up about 6% compared to last year. That estimate is generally in line with ecommerce sales data from Adobe Inc. and other ecommerce technology providers.

Online retailers are upbeat about holiday sales

With supply chain snarls that limited web sales during the pandemic largely eliminated, several retailers contacted by Digital Commerce 360 were pleased with early results from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Jeffrey Douglas, director of ecommerce at Nebraska Furniture Mart

Shopping at Nebraska Furniture Mart seemed to start earlier than usual this weekend, perhaps driven by offers of discounts, free shipping and financing, says ecommerce director Jeffrey Douglas.

“We are seeing inventory levels return to pre-COVID levels, so we’re in great shape when it comes to being in-stock,” he says.

Nebraska Furniture Mart is No. 310 in the Top 1000. The Digital Commerce 360 database ranks North American retailers and brands by online sales.

At Beanbox, an online coffee retailer, web sales jumped 15% on compared to last year. That makes it the strongest Thanksgiving Day in terms of sales in the e-retailer’s history, says Ryan Fritzky, co-founder and chief marketer at Bean Box. Bean Box is No. 1329 in the Digital Commerce 360 Next 1000 database. It ranks North American retailers Nos. 1001-2000 in ecommerce revenue.

Instagram ads produce strong results

Ryan Fritzky, co-founder and chief marketer, Bean Box

Fritzky says early access deals aimed at top customers and subscribers helped bring sales forward on Thanksgiving Day and likely contributed to the lower 5% growth on the next day, Black Friday. But he notes Black Friday produced strong subscription sign-ups.

“We’re excited about that because it’s a big opportunity for us to reach people who will be with us for the next year,” he says.

Bean Box got a strong response to its ads on Instagram and relatively weak traffic from Google search ads early in the weekend, Fritzky says. He says many consumers were scrolling through their social feeds on their phones Thursday and Friday and responded to appealing ads they saw, whereas they typically go to Google when they’re searching for items to buy.

“We’ll see stronger search demand on Monday as people scramble to make last-minute decisions,” Fritzky predicts.

More family gatherings help boost sales of baking supplies

Tom Funk, ecommerce director, Ann Clark Ltd.

At Ann Clark Ltd., sales turned up with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resumption of social gatherings, says ecommerce director Tom Funk. Ann Clark manufactures cookie cutters and other baking supplies, and it sells direct to consumer at AnnClarkCookieCutters.com.

“U.S. sales growth was modest. As a premium brand, we try to steer away from aggressive discounting,” he says. “International — mostly Europe and Canada — was a bright spot, growing 20% to 50% depending on country.”

Profits have increased as Ann Clark selectively raised prices and tweaked its marketing campaigns, Funk says.

“Paid and organic search declined over prior year,” he adds. “Email revenue grew 35%. We’re a bit more in the mode of engaging existing customers, less about battling to acquire a lot of new customers.”

Sales are ‘better than expected’ for an online gifts retailer

Lynnette Kelley, part owner and business manager of Calamity Worldwide LLC, an online retailer of humorous gift items, says early-weekend sales were “a little better than I was anticipating. Not by much, but considering that our sales were lower than anticipated for Nov. 1 through 22, I’m happy to see that Nov. 23 through 25 so far have exceeded my expectations.”

She says sales were down 20% Thanksgiving Day through Saturday compared to the same days last year, “but we expected sales to be lower this year compared to last, as our whole year has been shaping up to be a little lower than last year.”

Lynnette Kelley, co-owner and business manager, Calamity Worldwide LLC

She says Calamityware.com customers may have put off purchases until Thanksgiving because the e-retailer promised a holiday giveaway of a reusable grocery bag featuring one of the retailer’s original designs.

“I suspect that has something to do with the lower-than-planned sales in the beginning of the month, and higher-than-planned sales so far this weekend,” Kelley says.

On a positive note, she says Calamity has been able to return to full price for some of its best-selling items this year without cutting into the number of larger orders it has received. That’s noteworthy in a season when online prices are generally lower than they were a year ago — Adobe says average online prices were 6% lower in October 2023 than the same month last year — and discounting is heavy.

Will online sales return to pre-pandemic patterns?

The 2023 holiday season could signal a return to pre-pandemic shopping patterns, with heavy discounting driving strong sales in November that result in muted online revenue growth in December, says Bennett of Signifyd.

“I expect Cyber Monday will be big,” he says. Sales that day often follow the pattern set by Black Friday, which was quite strong this year. “I’m very curious how much this will pull forward from December. November has been stronger than I expected, and I would suspect December will be weaker than we expected.”

Funk, the ecommerce director at Ann Clark, which generates most of its online sales on the Amazon Marketplace, foresees stiff competition ahead.

“Ecommerce, especially on Amazon, continues to be brutally competitive,” Funk says. “I expect it will be a challenging season, where much of our growth comes from new products. We recently launched gourmet waffle and pancake mixes, which are doing very well as folks return to more family gatherings.”

Do you rank in our database?

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Higher web sales and lower fraud brighten retailers’ holiday appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.