Naughty or Nice? — Q3 2022 E-commerce Review — Part 1
The e-commerce industry is having a Groundhog Day moment. Third quarter results were much like the second and first: slowing growth and cutting costs. Below, a look at key themes and trends from third quarter e-commerce results.
I Got You, Babe
It’s Groundhog Day for e-commerce. Like the first and second quarters, the post-pandemic e-commerce penetration reversion to the mean ( this chart, once again) continues to dominate industry trends. Consumers have more options for where to spend — online or offline, goods or services — and tighter budgets as nagging inflation increases the price of essentials like food and gas. As a kicker, the strengthening US dollar is pressuring top-lines for companies with international sales, knocking a few percentage points off of reported growth rates.
With the exceptions of Amazon and Shopify, e-commerce firms either decelerated (Poshmark, The RealReal, ThredUp), declined outright (eBay, Wayfair), or did both (Etsy, Farfetch). It’s not all rainbows and unicorns for Amazon and Shopify either. Amazon’s growth benefited from shifting Prime Day to the third quarter in 2022 from the second quarter in 2021, while Shopify’s GMV includes brick-and-mortar sales, which are outpacing e-commerce.
