The pandemic has forced a lot of changes in our everyday lives, including something as trivial as grocery shopping. Target and Walmart recorded an enormous surge of e-commerce for the third quarter. The trend is forecasted to last even after the pandemic ends.
Target and Walmart: stellar earnings, soaring shares, all thanks to e-commerce
Quoted from Yahoo finance, Walmart and Target announced to have achieved enormous gains on their e-commerce. While Walmart reported a 79% rise in the quarter’s online sales, Target exceeded with a 155% rise.
In comparison to the last quarter, both companies actually went on a slight dip. This could be due to the stricter lockdown in the second quarter. Meanwhile, physical stores have started to reopen in the third quarter, which contributed to the increased foot traffic. The reopening also pushed the overall U.S. retail spending in e-commerce 14.3% down in the third quarter from 16.1% in the second quarter. Despite the weakening number, the year-over-year record still managed to grow 29% higher.
E-commerce predicted to persist, even after the pandemic ceases
While the sudden surge of e-commerce sales are highly related to the pandemic-led lockdown, e-commerce has been gaining more than sufficient interest from the public in the past few years. Walmart recorded to have gained 74% higher sales in the first quarter of 2020 before the pandemic struck the U.S. With how the pandemic pushes forward e-commerce usage, it may be difficult for the trend to die. The acceleration of e-commerce that goes hand-in-hand with retail BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) is also expected to still continue even once the new normal starts.
Dick’s Sporting Goods also revealed that e-commerce is still gaining the public’s attention. Dick’s commenced with its online order service early in the pandemic. Customers then either pick the order up or request to ship the goods to their home from the nearest stores. While the service brought Dick’s a notable record in the second quarter, the online service still continued to gain more orders in the third quarter. Upon this, Dick’s CEO Ed Stack mentioned, “it started off as a safety piece, people wanted it because they didn’t want to come in contact with anyone else. It’s now becoming a convenience piece.’
Read also: Economy Has Made E-Commerce Indispensable
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