- Specialty retail categories are where e-commerce has had the strongest impact on brick-and-mortar stores, concludes Re/code after scanning sales charts.
- While food and healthcare categories show lower e-commerce penetration as consumers only slowly pivot away from their traditional buying habits - retailers that sell clothing (EXPR, RUE, ZUMZ, PSUN, AEO, OTC:CACH, OTCQB:BODY, CHS, CWTR, NWY, OTC:BEBE, ANN, CBK) , sporting goods (HIBB, CAB, BGFV), and electronics (BBY, RSH) continue to lose market share to online sellers at an astonishing pace that shows little signs of slowing down.
- Demographics aren't working in the favor of the trend reversing itself either as more teens show a tendency to favor online upstarts such as Nasty Gal or Stitch Fix over former mall rat favorites like Gap (NYSE:GPS), Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) or Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF). The younger set is also attuned to deal-shopping and buying used products online which are margin killers in the electronics category.
- Re/code sees at least two companies that don't mind the e-commerce evolution: FedEx (NYSE:FDX) and UPS (NYSE:UPS) could get busier and busier.