Dear Reader,

Welcome to our latest edition of the Win the Week newsletter, covering consumer spending trends for the week ending July 20, 2024. This week's data is particularly noteworthy as it includes 2024 Amazon Prime Day, which typically has a significant impact on spending patterns, including generational shopping trends and fascinating shifts in Millennial spending on 2024 Prime Day.

Let's dive into the numbers and compare them with previous weeks.

This week's highlights are featured below.

General Retail Spending

General retail spending continued to recover from multi-week declines, with the average ticket growth increasing for the second consecutive week. Notably, the week-over-week (WoW) spend in general retail rose for the first time in roughly a month, skyrocketing into the double digits after weeks of declines.

While that may seem to suggest that all big-name brands in general retail benefited from those rising tides, the truth is a bit more complex. In fact, when looking at Amazon, Temu, Target, and Walmart, the only retailer to experience WoW growth was Amazon, with the average ticket growth surging by nearly 30% while WoW spend growth increased by nearly 63%

Overall, here’s how general retail spending evolved over the past week:

• Weekly spend growth: 30.1%

• Average ticket growth: 14.6%

Fast Fashion Spending

Like general retail spending over the past week, fast fashion spending reversed some recent trends, with SHEIN, Zara, and H&M all experiencing upticks in the average ticket growth and WoW spending. In contrast, Uniqlo had a 1.1% dip in WoW spending.

With that, here’s what happened with fast fashion and apparel spending over the past week, when compared to the previous week:

• Weekly spend growth: 0.0%

• Average ticket growth: -1.1%

TikTok Shop Spending

TikTok Shop spending declined last week, with both the average ticket price and WoW growth down:

• Weekly spend growth: -12.5%

• Average ticket growth: -2.3%

Crucially, these drops have reversed a 4-week trend of spending growth in the TikTok Shop — and the average ticket price and WoW growth have only declined once before (in early June).

Other Retail Categories

Other retail sectors tended to see declines in consumer spending over the past week, except for fast food and restaurant spending. In particular, this type of food spending saw average ticket prices increase by nearly 1% while WoW spending growth rose by 1.5%. Also remarkable was the fact that the average ticket prices in grocery spending slightly increased last week while WoW growth dropped.

Here’s a closer look at the fluctuations in consumer spending in other retail categories over the past 7 days:

• Fast Food & Restaurant spend growth: 1.5%

• Grocery spend growth: -0.5%

• Wholesale Club spend growth: -4.4%

• Discount Store spend growth: -7.0%

• Hardware & Home Supply spend growth: -11.7%

Key Takeaways & Comparisons

Taking a birds-eye view of the latest retail transaction data begins to uncover deeper insights, stronger trends, and surprise shifts related to consumer spending and shopping across several areas:

1. General Retail: A dramatic surge to 30.1% growth from last week's -0.8%, clearly reflecting the impact of Amazon Prime Day. The average ticket size also jumped significantly.

2. Fast Fashion: Stabilized at 0.0% growth after several weeks of decline, suggesting a possible bottoming out in this category.

3. TikTok Shop: A sharp reversal to -12.5% growth after four consecutive weeks of positive performance, including last week's 13.6% surge. This could indicate that Amazon Prime Day drew spending away from this platform.

4. Fast Food & Restaurant: Fast food, quick-serve restaurants, and traditional restaurants returned to positive territory with 1.5% growth, breaking a three-week negative streak.

5. Grocery: Slight decline at -0.5%, but a significant improvement from last week's -12.7% drop.

6. Hardware & Home Supply: Continued decline at -11.7%, following last week's -9.7% performance.

The impact of 2024 Amazon Prime Day is evident in this week's data, particularly in the General Retail category. The event seems to have redirected spending from other categories and platforms, as seen in the declines in TikTok Shop, Discount Stores, and Hardware & Home Supply.

It's interesting to note that Fast Fashion remained stable despite the Prime Day effect, possibly indicating that clothing wasn't a major focus of the event or that this category has its own dynamics independent of general retail trends.

The positive turn in Fast Food & Restaurant spending could suggest increased activity around Prime Day shopping, with consumers opting for quick meals while focusing on deals.

As we move into late July, it will be crucial to watch how these trends evolve post-Prime Day. Will we see a spending hangover in General Retail? Will TikTok Shop bounce back? These are key questions for the coming weeks.

If you have any questions or would like to explore how Facteus's data can support your business decisions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Best regards,

The Facteus Team

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