Dear Reader,

Welcome to our latest edition of the Win the Week newsletter, covering consumer spending trends for the week ending October 12, 2024. This week's data shows significant shifts across various retail categories, largely influenced by Amazon's Prime Day event on October 8th and 9th.

Let's dive into the numbers and analyze the most recent retail spending trends and consumer shopping behaviors.

The latest highlights are featured below.

General Retail Spending

Rising remarkably this week, general retail spending had some incredible upticks in both average ticket growth (ATG) and week-over-week (WoW), with Amazon and Target as the clear winners in the face of spending declines at Temu and Walmart.

Specifically, when compared to general retail spending last week, ATG rose slightly at Target, increasing by about 1% while it radically spiked at Amazon, with average ticket growth up roughly17.5%. In contrast, ATG at Temu and Walmart this week dropped by about 0.6% and 4.4%, respectively.

In terms of WoW spend growth, Temu and Walmart also had declines this week, with weekly spend growth falling by 3.9% and 8.2%, respectively. In contrast, WoW spend growth at Target and Amazon skyrocketed, rising by roughly 5.3% and 34.8%, respectively.

Combining that data, here’s how general retail spending fluctuated last week:

• Weekly spend growth: 14.5%

• Average ticket growth: 6.9%

Fast Fashion Spending

Bouncing back from last week’s dips, fast fashion spending increased this week, with both average ticket growth and weekly spend growth up. In particular, ATG was a mixed bag, with the increases at Zara (5.1%) and H&M (0.6%) largely offsetting the declines in ATG at SHEIN (0.7%) and Uniqlo (2.1%).

Weekly spend growth mostly increased for fast fashion brands this week, with Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo all experiencing increases, ranging from roughly 1.2% and 4.7%. SHEIN was the only fast fashion brand to see WoW spend growth drop this week, with declines of roughly 2.1%.

Overall, that meant that fast fashion spending last week had:

• Weekly spend growth: 2.2%

• Average ticket growth: 1.8%

Notably, these gains could be related to the Amazon Prime Deal Days event this week, with spilloff of that spending tricking over into other retail categories.

TikTok Shop Spending

Carrying on last week’s gains, TikTok Shop spending increased this week, with:

• Weekly spend growth: 8.6%

• Average ticket growth: 1.2%

These increases reflect two consecutive weeks of upticks in TikTok Shop spending, halting the zigzagging trend that had persisted through September. While these gains could indicate some spilloff from Amazon Prime Days spending, they may also signal that younger consumers could be diving into holiday shopping a little earlier this year.

Other Retail Categories

More of a mixed bag this week, other categories in retail spending had some upticks and backslides, with fast food and restaurant spending, as well as discount store spending, standing out as the clear winners.

In particular, average ticket growth this week for fast food and restaurant spending and for discount store spending rose by 1% and 1.3%, respectively. In contrast, wholesale club spending and grocery spending dropped this week, with ATG falling by roughly 3% and 4%, respectively.

Looking at WoW spend growth, here’s how spending shifted across other retail categories this week:

• Fast Food & Restaurant spend growth: 0.5%

• Grocery spend growth: -6.6%

• Wholesale Club spend growth: -20.8%

• Discount Store spend growth: 0.9%

• Hardware & Home Supply spend growth: -1.1%

Key Takeaways & Comparisons

Contextualizing this week’s retail transaction data with consumer intelligence from the past couple of months, we can continue to uncover fascinating insights and key trends associated with:

1. General Retail: The substantial 14.5% growth, coupled with a 6.9% increase in average ticket size, clearly reflects the impact of Prime Day. This category saw a significant boost compared to last week's already positive performance.

2. Wholesale Clubs: A dramatic reversal to -20.8% growth from last week's 23.9% surge. This steep decline might be due to consumers shifting their bulk buying to online platforms during Prime Day.

3. Fast Fashion: Rebounded to positive territory with 2.2% growth, reversing last week's decline. This could indicate that apparel was a popular category during the Prime Day sales.

4. Discount Stores: Slight positive growth at 0.9%, recovering from last week's decline, but not showing as strong an impact from Prime Day as other retail categories.

5. Grocery: Significant decline of -6.6%, contrasting with last week's growth. This could suggest that consumers prioritized discretionary purchases over groceries during the sales event.

6. TikTok Shop: Continued strong growth at 8.6%, up from last week's 1.9%, suggesting this platform might have benefited from the overall increase in online shopping during Prime Day.

This week's data clearly demonstrates the significant impact of Amazon's Prime Day event on consumer spending patterns. The event seems to have driven substantial growth in General Retail and benefited related categories like Fast Fashion and TikTok Shop. Specifically:

• The stark decline in Wholesale Club spending, coupled with the drop in Grocery, suggests that consumers may have shifted their budget allocations to take advantage of Prime Day deals, potentially stocking up on non-perishables or household goods through online channels instead of traditional wholesale outlets.

• The modest growth in Discount Store spending and the slight decline in Hardware & Home Supply indicate that these categories were less affected by the Prime Day phenomenon, possibly due to the nature of products typically purchased through these channels.

As we move further into October and closer to the holiday season, it will be crucial to monitor whether this surge in spending was a one-time event driven by Prime Day or if it signals the beginning of an early and strong holiday shopping season.

Remember, Facteus analyzes over $3.1 trillion in consumer spending from more than 120 million individual consumers, providing comprehensive insights across various industries.

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

Best regards,

The Facteus Team

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