E-commerce stocks rally after Black Friday shoppers spend record online

Shoppers
turned
out
in
full
force
on
Thanksgiving
and
over
the
Black
Friday
weekend,
largely
shunning
physical
stores
for
the
comfort
of
clicking
“buy
online”
from
their
couches.

Black
Friday
online
spending

reached
a
record
$9.8
billion
in
the
U.S.,
up
7.5%
from
a
year
earlier,
according
to
Adobe
Analytics.
Online
sales
on
Cyber
Weekend,
the
days
between
Black
Friday
and
Cyber
Monday,
surged
7.7%
to
$10.3
billion.
Cyber
Monday
sales
are
expected
to
reach
up
to
$12.4
billion,
making
it
the
biggest
U.S.
online
shopping
day
of
the
year,
according
to
Adobe.

The
strong
showing
proved
to
be
a
boon
for
many
e-commerce-focused
retailers,
and
their
stocks
surged
Monday
as
investors
cheered
the
early
results.
Shares
of


Etsy
and


Wayfair
closed
up
about
3%
and
7%,
respectively,
while


Amazon
stock
climbed
0.6%.


Shopify
shares
closed
up
almost
5%
in
afternoon
trading
after
the
company,
which
provides
software
for
online
retailers,

said
merchants
notched
a
record
$4.1
billion
in
sales.

Analysts
and
investors
are
closely
watching
sales
during
the
five-day
period
beginning
Thanksgiving
Day
and
ending
on
Cyber
Monday
as
a
barometer
for
the
overall
holiday
shopping
season.
The
National
Retail
Federation,
a
trade
group,
expects
shoppers
will
spend
more
this
year
than
last
year,
with
sales
in
November
and
December
projected
to
rise
3%
to
4%
year
over
year.
Even
as
inflation
has
cooled,
grocery
prices
are
still
high,
and
the
resumption
of
student
loan
payments
has
eaten
into
some
consumers’
holiday
budgets.

Against
that
backdrop,
budget-conscious
consumers
have
turned
to
buy-now-pay-later
features
as
a
way
to
stretch
their
wallets.
Buy-now-pay-later
services
such
as
Affirm,
Klarna
and
Afterpay
drove
$5.9
billion
in
online
spend
between
Nov.
1
and
Nov.
23,
up
13.4%
from
last
year,
according
to
Adobe.
Shares
of


Affirm
closed
up
almost
12%
Monday.

Klarna
CEO
Sebastian
Siemiatkowski
said
in
an
interview
on
CNBC’s
“The
Exchange”
that
the
company
was
“quite
shocked”
to
see
the
strength
of
buy-now-pay-later
services
during
Black
Friday.

“It
just
shows
how
much
market
share
both
buy-now-pay-later
and
Klarna
is
gaining
in
the
market,”
Siemiatkowski
said.
I
think
it’s
both
share
of
checkout,
it’s
more
merchants
offering
it
and
more
consumers
choosing
it
in
general.”

New
e-commerce
entrants
such
as
short-form
video
app
TikTok
and
the
discount-laden
Chinese
online
marketplace
Temu
have
sought
to
capitalize
on
the
holiday
demand
by
running
their
own
heavy
promotions.
TikTok,
which
launched
its
TikTok
Shop
storefront
in
the
U.S.

in
September,
dangled
free
shipping
and
discounts
between
20%
and
30%
off
on
a
slew
of
items,
ranging
from
Farmacy
moisturizer
and
Blue
Bottle
Coffee
instant
espresso
powder,
to
virtually
unknown
brands
such
as
BEDSUM
silk
pillowcases
and
Terviiix
hairbrushes.

Temu,
a
bargain
basement
that
features
a
mix
of
apparel,
household,
electronics
and
beauty
goods
ranging
from
odd
to
cheaper
lookalikes
of
established
brands,
had
its
own
Black
Friday
and
Cyber
Monday
deals.
It
hawked
discounts
of
up
to
90%
off
on
products
in
several
categories,
including
a
“Cyber
Week
Clearance”
starting
at
39
cents
for
some
items.
A
plastic
rice
washing
bowl,
listed
as
one
of
the
top-selling
Cyber
Week
items,
is
discounted
68%
to
$1.89
with
free
shipping.

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