Online spending by U.S. shoppers jumped 5% during the holiday season, boosted by record levels of discounts and deferred payments options, Adobe Analytics said Thursday. The data appeared to offer little help for shares of e-commerce companies, including Amazon stock.
Consumers spent $222.1 billion online from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, up 4.9% from the same period in 2022, according to Adobe Analytics. In 2022, online spending grew 3.5%. Shoppers spent $123.5 billion during November, up 6% from the same period in 2022, and $98.6 billion in December, up 3.7%.
On the stock market today, e-commerce stocks traded lower. Amazon stock shed 2.6% to close at 144.57. Etsy slid 3.6% to close at 76.29, while eBay lost 2.3% to close at 42.53. On the other hand, Shopify rose 2.2% to close at 73.42.
Perhaps overshadowing the positive data for some e-commerce stocks: Bloomberg reported Thursday that TikTok is aiming to grow its U.S. e-commerce business "tenfold" this year, challenging Amazon's turf.
Discounts And Buy Now, Pay Later
For the holiday shopping season, discounts were stronger for 2023 across most major categories, Adobe's report said. Electronics discounts peaked at 31% off listed price, compared to 25% in 2022. Apparel items were discounted up to 24%, compared to a peak of 19% discounts in 2022, the report said.
Meanwhile, Buy Now, Pay Later, the growing payments trend also known as BNPL, hit a record $16.6 billion, up from 14% last year, the Adobe report said.
"In an uncertain demand environment, retailers leaned on discounting and flexible payment methods to entice shoppers this holiday season," Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst for Adobe Digital Insights, said in the report.
Shares of BNPL provider Affirm jumped 12% in late November, after initial Black Friday sales data from Adobe showed BNPL use surging. But AFRM stock shed 2.3% to close at 42.50 Thursday.
Amazon Stock: Slow Start To 2024
Meanwhile, the new numbers haven't helped Amazon stock turn around a sluggish start in the new year. AMZN lost 1.3% on Tuesday and another 1% on Wednesday.
For Amazon, a Thursday Bloomberg report that TikTok is looking to rapidly scale-up its U.S. e-commerce business could be weighing on shares.
TikTok, owned by the privately-held Chinese company ByteDance, hopes to reach $17.5 billion in U.S. sales this year, Bloomberg reported. TikTok would also be going up against fellow China-based online retailers Temu and Shein. The rapid growth of the Chinese e-commerce apps in the U.S. has caught the eye of some Amazon stock analysts. TikTok, in particular, already has a broad social media user base in the U.S. to help power sales.
The recent slide for Amazon stock has pushed it below a previous 145.86 buy point, according to IBD MarketSmith.
Amazon called the kickoff to holiday shopping following Thanksgiving its "biggest ever." But the company did not disclose exact numbers. That data won't be available until the company releases fourth-quarter numbers either late this month or early in February.
Adobe Analytics' numbers shows overall online spending accelerated this year from last. But the growth rate is still well behind the eye-popping 32% year-over-year surge for online holiday spending in 2020, driven by the Covid emergency.
