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After a year of significant e-commerce growth, Best Buy executives said the company is now focused on preparing for the shift to online shopping to remain permanent. During its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, Best Buy reported that e-commerce sales were up 90%, and now represent 43% of its total sales. CEO Corie Barry said that the company is projecting that next year, e-commerce will still make up roughly 40% of sales. In order to prepare for this shift, Best Buy is rethinking both how its stores look, and how it staffs those stores.
During its fourth quarter earnings call, Macy's executives made it clear that they are betting on e-commerce to help the department store chain recover from the pandemic, as they tried to position the company as a "digitally-led" retailer. Digital sales were up 21% year-over-year, and its e-commerce division is now profitable. But Macy's is still trying to figure out how to differentiate its website from those of of other big-box retailers or department stores.
During its fourth quarter earnings, Kohl's executives focused their remarks on how the company plans to bring shoppers back to store next year. The company reported today that during its fourth quarter, net sales were down 10% year-over-year, while online sales were up 22%. Kohl's still managed to report a profit of $343 million. Now, Kohl's is preparing for the launch of a new private label athleisure brand later this month, as well as the launch of new Sephora shop-in-shops in August, to try and drive customers back to stores.
Almost six months after its official debut, Walmart+ has been one of the retailer's successful coronavirus-era rollouts. With Walmart's growing e-commerce sales over the past year, the membership program may help keep the momentum going. In turn, Walmart's answer to Amazon Prime stands to build on the retailer's online grocery and essentials delivery business long after the pandemic.
Nearly a year after sales for its connected indoor bikes surged, Peloton is still struggling to fulfill demand in a timely manner. The fitness company, which went public shortly before the pandemic, is heavily investing in owning the supply chain and reducing delivery windows.
The fourth quarter closed out a record year for the company, and it put Amazon’s overall net sales in 2020 at $386.1 billion -- up a full 38% from 2019. That growth is buoyed by a big year for its third-party seller and its rapidly growing ads business. In its predictions for next quarter, Amazon only expects those gains to slow down slightly.
During its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, Walmart reported slower sales growth compared to the prior quarter. America's biggest retail chain is seeing fewer people panic-buying compared to the earlier days of the pandemic, and its shoppers have less money to spend as any enhanced benefits from the CARES Act have no run out. However, Walmart's e-commerce business in particular continues to make steady gains against competitors.
Amazon unsurprisingly posted record third quarter earnings. Sales exceeded expectations, as did profit. Still there were a few things of note. Amazon didn't highlight its third-party sellers as much as past years, for example. It did, however, nod to its growing suite of new revenue engines. Here's a look at the e-commerce giant's most recent earnings.
PepsiCo.'s latest quarterly earnings show tremendous growth among digital channels. They include e-commerce sites like Snacks.com and Pantryshop.com, whose sales have doubled since launching in May. This growth is the latest evidence that big CPG brands are taking steps to ease their reliance on wholesale and better compete with emerging brands. Recent examples include Clorox's big foray into DTC, as well as Heinz Kraft's Heinz to Home platform it operates in the U.K.
During its fiscal first quarter earnings, Nike reported that sales were down 1% year-over-year. In today's retail environment, that's a success. The athletic apparel reported that while it's still not seeing the same in-store traffic that it was a year ago, it's digital sales are up 82%, even as more than 90% of its stores were reopened. Nike's benefitted from seeing a huge increase in downloads of its apps, which include its main Nike shopping app, Nike Train Club, and Nike Run Club.
While other retailers falter, Dollar General still flourishing. Despite relying on in-store sales, the dollar store continues to see big growth. Meanwhile, other dollar stores continue to face headwinds. While overall foot traffic was down, average purchases have increased, likely due to shoppers stocking up and making less store trips during the pandemic.
Alibaba's long play to become an e-commerce player in the U.S. is well on its way, as reflected by its latest quarterly earnings. Despite a global pandemic and being caught amid political tensions, the Chinese retailer is quickly gaining market share among competitors like Amazon and Walmart.
During the pandemic, Walmart benefitted from being one of the only games in town. Now, as most non-essential retailers have been able to reopen the majority of their stores in the U.S. and delivery times have started to stabilize, the question now becomes how well Walmart is able to retain its customers throughout the rest of the year. During its second quarter earnings on Tuesday, Walmart reported that its e-commerce sales during the period grew 97% year-over-year. It will be tough to match that growth the rest of the year, but Walmart can maintain a strong growth rate if it encourages its e-commerce customers to cross-shop as much as possible.
Blue Apron recorded its first profitable quarter since going public three years ago. However, the meal kit service's luck is likely to end here, as mounting struggle to retain customers and the costs of attracting new ones continue. For its third quarter outlook, the company plans to ramp up marketing dollars again, in hopes of attracting new customers, and that likely will come at the cost of current profits.
Amazon saw huge profits in its most recent earnings report. This comes even after the company say three months earlier it would likely spend all of its current profits on coronavirus-related costs. Even so, the company saw record sales and continues to skyrocket. But tensions with third-party sellers still remain a pressure point.
Target's long term plans to capitalize on its record sales year includes investing in its physical stores. In its fourth quarter earnings announcement, the big box retailer unveiled plans to spend $4 billion annually to modernize and automate its existing stores, along with opening new ones near college campuses and metro areas.
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