Cushman & Wakefield Industrial Research MarketNote

1. KEY TAKEAWAY
Online sales grew 25.2% year-over-year during the four-day Thanksgiving weekend,
traditionally the kickoff to the U.S. holiday shopping season, according to data from
IBM (IBM, Tech30). On Cyber Monday, shoppers spent more than $3 billion online,
making it the biggest online shopping day. According to comScore, shopping by
phone, laptop or tablet jumped 21% to $3.11 billion, the sixth year in a row that Cyber
Monday has been the top online sales day on record. U.S. online retail sales are
projected to reach $334 billion by year-end and anticipated to total $480 billion by
2019. In the third quarter, online sales accounted for 7.4% of all retail sales in the
nation, but that is projected to increase to about 15% during the holidays.
WANT TO SEE THE DATA? READ ON
 Amazon alone generated an estimated 36.1% of all online sales on Cyber
Monday, according to Slice Intelligence. Far behind were a slew of brick-and-
mortar retailers: Best Buy with 5.5%, followed by Walmart at 3.8%, Nordstrom
at 3.6% and Macy’s at 2.8%.
 Although Amazon dominated Cyber Monday spending, its hold on total e-
commerce has eased up a bit, falling 2.7 percentage points compared to last
year. That is likely tied to massive efforts by the likes of Walmart and Target to
begin to bridge the enormous gap with Amazon. Walmart’s share of online
spending rose half a percentage point compared to Cyber Monday 2014.
 A strong holiday showing is critical: According to LPL Research, seasonal sales
have had roughly a 92% correlation with fourth-quarter U.S. GDP growth over
the last ten years. Consumer spending is still responsible for more than two-
thirds of the U.S. economy.
FASTER ORDER FULFILLMENT DURING THE HOLIDAYS
 Quick delivery is important for retailers for the holiday shopping season, a crucial
time for retailers during which they earn an outsized portion of their annual
profits and sales.
 Walmart & Target are planning on enhanced in-store pickup options for online
orders (BOPUS) and are focusing on more efficient delivery methods to cater to
consumers' growing interest in online and mobile shopping.
 In an effort to expand a service in which it believes it has an advantage over rival
Amazon which lack a bricks-and-mortar presence, Walmart announced that it
was focusing on in-store pickup as a way to take advantage of its 4,500 stores in
the U.S.
 Target's curbside pickup for mobile orders, a partnership with the app Curbside
that allows customers to shop Target inventory and pick it up at a store without
leaving their car, is expanding to 121 stores, up from 21, starting November 1.
25.2%
YOY GROWTH IN ONLINE
SALES DURING THE
FOUR-DAY
THANKSGIVING
WEEKEND
$480
BILLIONS IN U.S. ONLINE
RETAIL SALES
PROJECTED BY 2019
95K
INCREASE IN UPS
WORKFORCE FOR THE
HOLIDAYS

2.  Walmart has also opened fulfillment centers in Georgia, Indiana and
Pennsylvania over the past year to better handle supply and speed up ship
times. Target now has more than 460 stores that double as shipping
warehouses, up from about 100 at this same time last year, a capability that also
ensures faster shipment times.
 Both FedEx and UPS are beefing up their workforce with UPS increasing its
workforce by 95,000 while FedEx is hiring 55,000 seasonal workers.
U.S. HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON TOTAL RETAIL SALES (NOVEMBER/DECEMBER)
U.S. HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON E-COMMERCE SALES (NOVEMBER/DECEMBER)
Sources: Sources: Cushman & Wakefield Research, The National Retail Federation, IBM Digital Analytics
Benchmark, U.S. Census Bureau
TINA ARAMBULO
Managing Director – Research
+1 310 525 1918
tina.arambulo@cushwake.com
www.cushmanwakefield.com