Retailers and marketplaces reported ecommerce earnings results with mixed findings on demand and consumer sentiment.

More retailers in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 list of leading ecommerce retailers in North America reported ecommerce earnings results for the most recent fiscal quarter. Retailers reported mixed results across industries including apparel, pets and beauty. Here’s the ecommerce earnings summary you need to know from this quarter. Read more ecommerce earnings coverage here.

Parentheses indicate the merchant’s ranking in the Top 1000.

Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1)

Amazon beat expectations with earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023. Its net sales in the quarter grew 14% year over year to $170.0 billion.

Full-year sales grew 12% to $574.8 billion in 2023, up from $514.0 billion in 2022.

Read more about Amazon’s earnings here.

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Alibaba Group 

Alibaba’s revenue grew 5% to $36.67 billion in its third quarter ended Dec. 31.

Alibaba owns the world’s two largest online marketplaces by gross merchandise value (GMV), Taobao and Tmall. Taobao ranks No. 1 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest such marketplaces by GMV. Tmall ranks No. 2. Taobao and Tmall grew their combined revenue 1% to $17.43 billion.

Read more about Alibaba’s earnings here.

Bark (No. 186)

Bark reported revenue declined 6.9% to $125.1 million in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31. Results were at the high end of Bark’s expectations. The retailer attributed the sales decline to fewer total orders due to a decrease in subscribers. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, which make up the bulk of revenue, declined 7.6%. However, improvements to Bark’s website are driving increases in traffic and conversion, the retailer said.

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Canada Goose (No. 218)

Canada Goose said total revenue grew 6% to $609.9 million in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31. DTC revenue grew 14% due to growing in-store retail sales, partially offset by a decline in ecommerce. Wholesale sales, meanwhile, declined 28%. Canada Goose is evaluating its online product assortment to potentially make room for new categories going forward, said Jonathan Sinclair, chief financial officer.

The Container Store (No. 347)

The Container Store net sales declined 14.8% to $214.9 million in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 30. Online sales declined even more drastically, down 26.3% year over year. Website-generated sales, which include those designated for curbside pickup, declined 15.8%, accounting for 21.8% of net sales in the quarter. That’s flat with Q3 last year, the retailer said.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (No. 6)

Costco said net sales grew 6.1% to $56.72 billion in its first fiscal quarter of 2024 ended Nov. 26, 2023. Ecommerce comparable sales grew 6.3% in the same period. E-gift cards, snacks and pet items were all strong in the ecommerce channel, the retailer said.

Read more on Costco’s earnings here.

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E.l.f. Cosmetics Inc. (No. 951)

E.l.f. Reported it grew net sales 85% to $270.9 million in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31. Online sales made up 24% of total revenue, compared to 18% in the year-ago period. Loyalty members are a driving force behind online sales growth, the retailer said, accounting for nearly 80% of online sales. The Beauty Squad loyalty program has 4.5 million members, and grew 30% year over year, e.l.f. said.

Estee Lauder (No. 43)

Estee Lauder reported net sales declined 7% to $4.28 billion in its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31. The retailer attributed much of the sales decline to waning demand in China. It will lay off 3% to 5% of its workforce in 2024.

Read more about Estee Lauder’s earnings here.

Mattel (No. 205)

Mattel reported net sales grew 16% to $1.6 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, while sales were flat for the year. Dolls, vehicles, games and building sets were the most successful categories, the retailer said.

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“We expect the toy industry to decline in 2024, although at a lesser rate than 2023. The anticipated decline is due to a lighter toy theatrical film slate and the impact of the shift in consumer spending patterns towards experiences and services, which we believe will moderate over the year,” CEO Ynon Kreiz told investors.

PetMed Express Inc. (No. 354)

PetMed Express reported net sales for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 grew 11% year over year to $65.3 million. Recurring orders through the AutoShip & Save and PetPlus programs made up the majority of sales, accounting for 52.2% of revenue. That’s an increase from 42.3% of revenue in the year-ago period.

The retailer noted that pet food is a small but fast-growing part of the business. PetMed Express recently added the brand Hill’s Science Diet and has plans to pursue more premium pet food partnerships in the future.

Ralph Lauren (No. 78)

Ralph Lauren said revenue grew 6% to $1.9 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 30. Global direct-to-consumer (DTC) same-store sales grew 9% over the same period. Gross profit was $1.3 billion, the retailer said.

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Read more about Ralph Lauren’s earnings here.

Tapestry (No. 44)

Tapestry reported a 3% increase in net sales to $2.08 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 30. Online sales grew in the single digits, the retailer said, making up one-third of total revenue. Direct-to-consumer revenue grew 4% over the period. Tapestry also opened a new fulfillment center in Las Vegas as part of a plan to grow omnichannel capabilities, the retailer said.

Target Corp. (No. 5)

Third-quarter sales declined 4.9% for the mass merchant, to $25 billion from $26.12 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 28. Meanwhile, Target online sales decreased 6% year over year. Moreover, Target’s online sales declined 6.7% year over year for the first nine months of its fiscal year.

Read more about Target’s earnings here.

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Under Armour Inc. (No. 97)

Under Armour reported 2% growth in ecommerce revenue during its fiscal 2024 third quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2023. Total revenue declined 6% to $1.5 billion.

Read more about Under Armour’s earnings here.

Walmart Inc. (No. 2)

Walmart reported that U.S. online sales grew 24% for its fiscal 2024 third quarter ended Oct. 27. Global ecommerce sales grew 15% over the same period, while international ecommerce declined 3%.

U.S. comparable sales grew 4.9%, and total revenue grew 5.2% to $160.8 billion.

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Read more about Walmart’s earnings here.

The Walt Disney Company Ltd. (No. 100)

Disney said revenue for its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 30 was flat from the year-ago period at $23.5 billion. DTC revenue, which includes the company’s streaming channels, grew 15% to $5.5 billion in the quarter. The DTC segment led to an operating loss of $138 million, but that’s a decrease of 86% from the loss in Q1 of 2023. The company said it projects streaming to become profitable in fiscal 2024.

So what does it mean?

  • The pet industry is subject to the same troubles facing other retailers. PetMed Express reported success with the same strategy that’s been successful for Chewy based on food and medications. Meanwhile, Bark felt a pullback in more discretionary pet items.
  • e.l.f.’s 85% sales growth on top of the 49% it grew in Q3 2023 shows that the cosmetics retailer isn’t slowing down as it gains name recognition and expands on social media platforms.

Ecommerce earnings calendar

Here’s when other ecommerce earnings are scheduled to report this quarter:

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