Apple (AAPL ) has given up their position of the third biggest e-commerce giant to Walmart (WMT ), which is on track to collect 4% (or $20.91 billion) of all online retail for 2018 - an increase from 3.3% in 2017. In contrast, Apple is set to collect 3.9% of online shopping this year, up from 3.8% of last year. The difference between both retailers can be examined by their demand: as Walmart gains more money from its warehouse subsidiaries Jet and Sam's Club ahead of the holiday season, Apple has suffered from a decreasing domestic demand for smartphones.
Despite the impressive amount of revenue retailers have pulled in throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, Amazon (AMZN ) still dominates U.S. e-commerce retail. This year, Amazon is expected to collect around 48%, or $252.10 billion of U.S. online retail. "Amazon remains the king of e-commerce and is in no danger of losing its crown anytime soon," says market analyst Andrew Lipsman. "But online competition from brick-and-mortar retailers is heating up and Amazon has felt more of a need to respond to maintain its leadership."
Contributing to Walmart's success this holiday season, click-and-collect shopping has become the new norm for customers. A process that combines the act of purchasing items online to later pick them up in store the same day, click-and-collect has been the main vehicle Walmart uses to build a better mobile experience for their consumers. Once a customer comes into the store in person to pick-up an item, retailers such as Walmart also expect them to buy even more.
Retail competitors Macy's (M ) and Target (TGT ) are also rolling out deals to entice online shoppers this holiday season. Falling behind in 6th and 11th place for e-commerce sales, the stores' e-commerce profits are expected to reach 6.28 and 5.25 billion, respectively. Revenue gained from this holiday season, however, may come at a cost for fellow retailer Target and Walmart due to extra supply chain and delivery costs. The only possible way for retailers such as Walmart to avoid such expenses is by using private labels. The adoption of private labels over the past few years has allowed retailers to maintain a low profit margin by offering their own items at lower prices at a faster rate.
According to analysts, 2018 marks the first year where Black Friday prices were similarly as low as those offered online on Thanksgiving Day. As a result, consumers no longer view Black Friday and Cyber Monday as deals that exist in two separate places - in store or online. Moreover, consumers no longer view the days to save as separate, but rather a time period where one can always buy items online for less. In an effort to maintain the shopper's interest towards Cyber Monday, Amazon has already released Cyber Monday sales ahead of time on Saturday November 24th, with promises of even more deals to offer to consumers. In response, brick-and-mortar retailer Walmart has extended Black Friday throughout the weekend - and will subsequently release newer deals on Monday.
