Inside Ecommerce

For November 30, 2023

Thank you to our sponsor

Today's e-commerce briefing digs into:

Cyber Monday's strong YoY sales growth this year
Walmart's announcement of its first shoppable video series
Saks' plan to shut down a fulfillment center in Pennsylvania

Enjoy!

Gregory
p/Gregory_Bridgman

U.S. digital sales on Cyber Monday rose 9.6% YoY in 2023. Online shoppers made widespread use of mobile buy now, pay later (BNPL) offerings, according to an Adobe Analytics report.

More:

U.S. shoppers spent $12.4B online on Cyber Monday, up 9.6% YoY.
Online sales between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday rose 7.8% YoY to $38B.
Sales over the Thanksgiving weekend rose 7.7% to 10.3B.
BNPL purchases between Nov. 1 and Nov. 27 expanded 17% YoY to $8.3B
This month is set to be the biggest ever for installment payment transactions, according to Adobe.

Walmart announced its first shoppable video series on Nov. 28. The retailer has previously produced hundreds of shoppable livestreams and other videos.

More:

The series will be made available on TikTok, Roku, YouTube, and Walmart's own social channels.
The series, which will be modeled on Hallmark's holiday movie genre, will be released in segments on Dec. 2, Dec. 5, and Dec. 8.
The series' trailer described the show as "RomCommerce" rather than as a "romcom."
- "Romcom" is an abbreviation used to denote the "romantic comedy" genre.
Walmart previously announced a shoppable video partnership with NBCUniversal's Peacock.

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Dollar Tree lowered its full-year outlook on Wednesday. The discount retailer may also reduce the footprint of its Family Dollar banner after its performance fell short of expectations in Q3.

More:

Dollar Tree reported Q3 consolidated net sales of $7.3B, up 5.4% YoY.
Net sales at the firm's namesake banner rose 6.6% to $4B.
Net sales at Family Dollar rose 3.9% YoY, while its comps rose only 2%.
CEO Rick Dreiling said the firm will "review" its portfolio of Family Dollar stores and "address underperforming stores."
Dollar Tree expects consolidated net sales in the range of $30.5B to $30.7B for fiscal 2023.

Saks plans to end its operations at a fulfillment center in Pennsylvania. The e-commerce company said that "more advanced capabilities" at other locations had made the facility redundant.

More:

Saks will cut 90 jobs at its fulfillment center in Wilkes-Barre.
Layoffs will take place in two rounds on Jan. 6 and March 26.
Saks Fifth Avenue's e-commerce business launched as a standalone entity called "Saks" in 2021.
- Saks began making use of a GXO Logistics fulfillment facility in Middletown, Pennsylvania, that same year.
Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th plan to continue using the Wilkes-Barre facility for their own purposes.

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What the numbers say: Electronics was the most sought-after product category by European consumers for Black Friday in 2023.

Relevance: Black Friday began in the U.S. but has since expanded to become the largest shopping event in Europe. Virtually all consumers in Germany, the U.K., Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain were aware of Black Friday in 2021. 66% of European consumers were interested in purchasing electronics during Black Friday this year. 54% planned to look for clothing and accessories, and 35% were interested in home decor. Food and beverages came last, with only 16% of European consumers interested in this category.

Amazon launched a physical "Second Chance" pop-up store in the U.K. The London store allows customers to shop in person for returned and refurbished products.

More:

Amazon said customers will be able to purchase items for up to 50% off their recommended retail price.
The store includes a "Repair Zone" that hosts free, expert-run repair workshops for customers.
The store launched in partnership with U.K. charity Barnardo's and will run until Dec. 12.
- All proceeds from the store will go toward supporting Barnardo's work.
Demand for pre-owned and refurbished goods in the U.K. and Europe has generated a $1.3B business for Amazon, according to John Boumphrey, Amazon's U.K. Country Manager.

QUICK HITS

Competitors are killing your efficiency. Read how Greenhouse gained $85mil in revenue from reps who used Klue over non-Klue users.*
D2C bridal company Birdy Grey named Tanya Hersh as its first chief marketing officer. Hersh previously worked at Mattel and American Express.
DoorDash is making on-demand deliveries for Best Buy as part of a new partnership.
B2B software investor Oxx raised $190M to invest in B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies in Europe.
Paysend, a money transfer FinTech, raised a $65M funding round after partnering with Mastercard to enhance cross-border payments for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

*This is a sponsored post.

Gregory Bridgman

Writer / Editor

Gregory Bridgman is a politics and e-commerce researcher with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He also holds a Master of Science from University College London and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Cape Town. Please follow me on Twitter or email me at gregory@inside.com.

This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield

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