Monday November 29th is “Cyber Monday.” Since early November, shoppers worldwide have been hunting Cyber Monday shopping day deals. This annual mainly Internet event is soaring in popularity.
“Cyber Monday” was launched 15 years ago and has grown prominently along with the e-commerce arena. Every year, it has offered an endless variety of attractive deals to shoppers in the US, Europe and Asia. The event is proving popular in other regions also, with Brazilians, Canadians, Russians and people in some African nations buying discounted merchandise on this day.
Cyber Monday is now the leading shopping event in the world, and has become longer too. It was extended to a week-long shopping spree in 2016, and has grown in prominence as COVID-19 transformed the digital world.
The bottom line is much higher revenues for the giant online retailers. Their incomes reached an all-time high on “Cyber Monday” 2020, and there is anticipation that they’ll break their records on “Cyber Monday” 2021.
Before we look at the “Cyber Monday” 2021 stocks and ask ourselves if they are worth our attention — let’s examine the shopping celebration’s astounding sales numbers.
Got the bug
A significant trigger that pushed 2020 forward and could make “Cyber Monday” 2021 even bigger — is the pandemic, and its aftermath. Social distancing was a gift for online retailers.
But the story is even bigger than that. COVID-19 accelerated an already established trend. Forrester Research reports that 40% of US adults enjoy shopping in stores a lot less now as compared with before the pandemic. There is a shift to smartphone shopping, and retailers’ revenue data clearly shows that. Consumers are less willing to wander between shops, without knowing if they’ll even find what they’re looking for.
“Cyber Monday” 2020 was the most prominent digital shopping day in US history — with revenues of $10.8 billion, up 15.1% from the previous year’s $9.4 billion. To get a sense of the intensity of the leap in sales activity online, one can recall that only five years ago, in 2016, “Cyber Monday” sales were “only” $3.45 billion.
It isn’t just an American event. Consumers in Europe share the anticipation of “Cyber Monday” deals: In the UK, 89% of consumers are aware of “Cyber Monday”; in Germany and Spain, around 85% of buyers know about the digital shopping day, and the rates are also high in the rest of Europe.
Top stocks of “Cyber Monday”
The shopping celebration’s big winners are the giants of e-commerce, along with delivery services. Let’s have a look at their performances in recent years. Many analysts project performances will be even better on “Cyber Monday” 2021.
Investors may look at “Cyber Monday” and the days around it as a strong indication of the coming holiday shopping season. A successful “Cyber Monday” hints that consumers will be ready to spend even more in the following weeks.
In most of the years since 2007, retail stocks outperformed the S&P 500 on the days around “Cyber Monday”.
Amazon: Since 2008, the online giant has been the biggest seller on “Cyber Monday.” In 2016, it dubbed the term “Cyber Monday deals week” — and led the way for a week of e-commerce shopping. Amazon is attracting the highest anticipation from shoppers. More than half of shoppers are “mostly interested” in special deals they may find on the platform.
Walmart: The hypermarkets giant holds second place on “Cyber Monday” sales — far behind Amazon, but with high buyer expectations on the deals it offers. In 2020, Walmart led the e-commerce rise following the pandemic, and its “Cyber Monday” sales jumped 150% — more than any other retailer.
Etsy: The handmade and vintage items e-commerce platform recorded the second-largest increase in sales of 84% on “Cyber Monday” 2020. This achievement highlights a strong year for Etsy, with a 77% rise in the number of sellers and revenues that more than doubled to $1.7 billion.
Shopify: The Canadian company reported that online retailers had a record- breaking “Cyber Monday” in 2020, with more than $5 billion in sales — 76% more than in 2019.
FedEx: Last year, the delivery giant carried more than 30 million packages on “Cyber Monday.” That was another significant indicator that last year would see strong results for FedEx. By the way, as this day has become a logistical challenge for FedEx, the company now tries to convince retailers and consumers to spread their shopping out over an even longer period.
- More retailers and delivery stocks which could be worth attention around “Cyber Monday” 2021 are: eBay, Wayfair, UPS, Deutsche Post.
Back in 2005, e-commerce was taking its first steps. It was noted that consumers enjoyed “Black Friday” and the days around it — but not standing freezing in long lines in front of brick-and-mortar shops.
That was the right moment for the launch of the digital version of Black Friday. Cyber Monday brought consumers a comfortable and fast way to shop online around the Thanksgiving weekend. Now given its success, it should be a staple event in every trader’s calendar.
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