General Merchandise Spend Increases; SpartanNash Deal; Direct to Consumer Strategy
By Cleveland AdminGeneral Merchandise spend intentions have increased to a net 22% of shoppers anticipating buying more over the next 30 days (vs. a net 13% in July), likely in part due to Prime Day and other deal days from competing retailers. Apparel, electronics, home décor, and toys are GM categories that saw large gains in the past month compared to our previous consumer survey results. Consumers are, no surprise, heavily utilizing in-store shopping at Walmart for general merchandise purchases compared to other retailers and eTailers. Shoppers continue to go to dollar stores more month over month and shoppers have also used Amazon more in September than in July.
Source: Tech Crunch
SpartanNash Deal:
Entering the year, Amazon Fresh was focused on reaching more customers by expanding their distribution footprint and removing the additional fee associated with the service. The pandemic accelerated these ambitions and Amazon recently secured the right to purchase 5.4 million shares of SpartanNash, a Fresh distribution partner it has utilized primarily on the East Coast. This gives Amazon the opportunity to purchase up to 15% of SpartanNash through October 2027 and supports Amazon’s other Fresh distribution initiatives such as building its own hubs and partnering with other food distributors in select markets.
Source: Shelby Report
Direct to Consumer Strategy:
Direct to Consumer sites are an important element of overall eCommerce strategies and are increasingly becoming a top priority for consumer brands both large and small. The rationale for pursuing DTC can vary, as our benchmark results show below. Driving sales and creating a direct relationship with the consumer were cited as the top two reasons manufacturers cited as why they want to create a compelling DTC offering. We expect DTC to outpace the broader eCommerce market from a growth perspective in 2021-2024, and in 2020, we expect sales flowing through Big Commerce and Shopify to surpass $100 billion.
Source: CRC eCommerce Summit 2020, n=161