In pandemic Christmas, U.S. rivals aim to challenge Amazon under the tree
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Walmart Inc WMT.N, Best Buy Co Inc BBY.N and hundreds of smaller retailers are bolstering their online gift features, hoping to challenge Amazon.com Inc's AMZN.O dominance as a seller of holiday gifts to homebound shoppers.
The new services seek to take some of the drudgery out of gift-giving. The features let consumers purchase a present online and have it delivered to the recipient with, for example, the retailer handling wrapping, a personal message or a receipt that does not show the gift’s price.
Amazon’s rivals have tried to chip away at its online preeminence, spending millions to fulfill orders faster, expand product catalogs and, in some cases, provide free shipping and even subscription services. But the first holiday sales season with widespread coronavirus has drawn attention to a previously overlooked battlefront: gift giving.
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Americans will spend $160 billion on gifts during the current quarter, up 5% from a year ago as people put savings from skipped outings into celebrating Christmas and other year-end holidays, according to industry analyst Coresight Research.
Adobe Inc's ADBE.O e-commerce software unit Magento expects Americans to ship gifts to 18% more recipients than a year ago as travel gets curbed.
But Coresight still expects Amazon.com to capture 18% of gift purchases and 7.2% of overall U.S. retail sales, up from 14% of gift purchases and 5.6% of total sales in 2019.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-holidayshopping-amazon-com-gifts/in-pandemic-christmas-u-s-rivals-aim-to-challenge-amazon-under-the-tree-idUSKBN2801D6
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