E-commerce has revolutionized shopping, enhancing the experience and the breadth of selection. Today, the e-commerce share of global retail sales is above 20%. The days of pure brick-and-mortar stores are long gone, and e-commerce retail stocks are taking over.
Over two decades ago, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) began the online retail trend. It pioneered online ordering and delivery, a practice that revolutionized the industry. Gradually, online buying increased, and retailers that couldn’t adapt, such as Sears and J.C. Penny, ended up bankrupt.
Today, most retailers have e-commerce sites and offer delivery services. Some, like Amazon, have gone the extra mile, providing additional convenience through services like same-day delivery. Others are creating engaging content to gamify the shopping experience. This experience includes discounts and prizes that customers can’t ignore.
As the competitive environment heats up, there will be retail stocks and losers. These retail stocks are leading the charge with their out-of-the-box solutions. They have created solutions like livestreaming and same-day delivery that differentiate them from traditional retail stocks.
Retail Stocks Transforming Shopping: Amazon (AMZN)
This retail giant has been a dominant force in the retail industry over the past two decades. Through rapid innovation and obsession with the customer, it has crushed retail stock peers. Today, it still leads the e-commerce revolution by delivering the best customer experience possible.
One major focus in enhancing the customer experience has been delivery times. Over the past two years, Amazon Retail has overhauled its fulfillment network to increase efficiency. It moved from a single national fulfillment network to eight regional fulfillment clusters.
Notably, the company has invested heavily in processes, placement and logistics software, and physical operations. Using a regional fulfillment network means fewer touches and shorter distances. As a result, the company has shortened delivery times, offering customers same-day and next-day delivery services.
In 2023, Amazon achieved the fastest delivery speeds for Prime customers in its 29-year history. Due to the shorter delivery times, more customers are using Amazon. The company has seen increased customer shopping for consumables and everyday essentials.
Over the long term, management expects increased shopping frequency due to quicker delivery. Amazon is innovating and executing on its fulfillment network to increase efficiency and shorten delivery times. These initiatives are working and it’s one of the retail stocks expected to grow revenues in 2024.
PDD Holdings (PDD)
PDD Holdings (NASDAQ:PDD), the owner of Pinduoduo, has hit the limelight due to its fast-shopping app, Temu. It has taken the United States by storm and more customers are clamoring for the gamified shopping experience. Moreover, the amazing discounts Temu offers attract frequent shoppers on the platform.
Since PDD Holdings launched Temu in the U.S., the mobile shopping app has seen a meteoric rise. It has rapidly increased gross merchandise volume through aggressive advertising and subsidies. Notably, U.S. spending customers on the platform have surpassed those of Shein.
The recipe for Temu’s success in the U.S. and other countries is its extremely low prices. For instance, wearable electronics as low as $5. These low prices, plus a wide breadth of products, enhance its competitiveness.
Driven by the rapid growth in Temu, revenues have soared. For instance, in the quarter ended September 30, PDD’s revenues increased 94% YOY. Operating profit was $2.2 billion, a 60% growth from the prior year’s quarter.
Temu is disrupting the e-commerce market, hence PDD is one of the best retail stocks to buy for 2024. It has been undercutting dollar stores like Dollar General (NYSE:DG) and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) by offering lower prices. Moreover, the gamification of the shopping experience plus prizes for achieving certain objectives will continue to attract shoppers.
As of this writing, PDD stock is reasonably valued at 24 times fiscal year 2023 earnings. Temu is grabbing market share from discount stores and PDD is one of the top retail stocks to buy in 2024.
Sea Limited (SE)
Singapore-based Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) is one of the top e-commerce stocks operating in Southeast Asia. Shopee, its e-commerce site, is the largest online retail platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. As competition heats up in the region from TikTok, owned by ByteDance, and Lazada, owned by Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), the company has been stepping up its investments.
One of the major growth markets for Sea Limited has been retail livestreaming. It is increasingly becoming an e-commerce option among sellers, buyers and creators. The company is building its e-commerce content ecosystem as it expects livestreaming to be a large and profitable market.
So far, the company has increased collaborations and broadened its ecosystem of livestreaming sellers and content creators. Shopee Live is seeing increased participation by both sellers and buyers. For example, 20% of daily active users in Indonesia engaged in live streaming during October. Altogether, the total daily hour streams, the average daily unique streamers, and the daily stream sessions tripled the June numbers.
During the Q3 FY2023 earnings call, management reported that livestreaming accounted for 10% of total order volume in Southeast Asia. Key categories such as fashion, beauty and health are benefiting from higher user engagement.
As Sea invests in opportunities like livestreaming, it has also focused on cost reductions. It is leveraging its significant scale to lower costs and pass on the benefits to sellers and buyers. For instance, in Q3, it reduced its platform logistics costs per order in Asia by 17% YOY.
Due to lower costs, management expects margin improvement in 2024. Additionally, most livestream sales are in higher margin categories like beauty and fashion. Based on the improving margins, Sea Limited can grow earnings. It’s one of the top retail stocks to watch in 2024.
On the date of publication, Charles Munyi did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.