The latest results are in from November activity in the Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index. The index outperformed the S&P 500 during a month that saw a U.S. presidential election and the arrival of the 2024 holiday shopping season. Some of the most active price movements could be seen at Xometry, Shopify and Revolve. Meanwhile, questions emerged as some China-based ecommerce companies saw downward moves.
In all of those cases, shifts underscored key trends at work in today’s markets.
November takeaways from Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index
- The Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index increased in November, up 12.2% from the end of October as the S&P saw a more modest gain of 5.9%.
- Multiple subsectors benefited from macro trends in November, though Ecommerce Tech led growth in this index, up 22% from the previous month’s close.
- Among the stocks up the most in November were Xometry (up 58%), Shopify (up 48%) and Revolve (up 45%), with BigCommerce (up 41%) right behind.
- Online Marketplaces
- Online Retail
- Ecommerce Tech
- International Companies
Readers should note that this index complements insights from Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 data. That database specifically tracks online retailers and their web sales in North America. The Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index, meanwhile, covers both B2C retail and B2B ecommerce companies, in addition to the technology vendors that serve them, with a broader focus on global activity. All commentary and reporting is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be financial advice.
Read October’s ecommerce stock index results here.
November ecommerce stock index results
“The Baird/Digital Commerce Ecommerce Stock Index increased a strong 12.2% during the month of November, well above the 5.9% gain in the broader S&P index,” said Colin Sebastian, Baird’s managing director and senior research analyst covering internet/ecommerce. “For the year-to-date, the ecommerce index is up nearly 35% on an equal-weighted basis, outperforming the 26% increase in the broader S&P index.”
Upward movement was seen almost universally across the sub-sectors that the index tracks. However, the notable exception to this trend could be seen in international stocks.
“One outlier was the international ecommerce sub-sector, which declined 8% for the month, reflecting ongoing challenging consumer trends in markets such as Asia, Europe and Latin America,” Sebastian added.
The top individual performers for the month included the digital manufacturing services company Xometry, which was up 58%. Other leaders for the month included the ecommerce platform Shopify, which was up 48%. Elsewhere, the apparel retailer Revolve Group, up 45%. And the ecommerce platform BigCommerce was up 41% as it announced a leadership change.
Characterizing challenges seen internationally, China-based platforms Pinduoduo, which owns Temu, and Alibaba both ended November down from a month prior.
“Baird views the overall November index performance as reflective of ongoing healthy growth trends across the ecommerce landscape, relatively solid Q3 quarterly earnings reports, and increasing optimism around holiday consumer spending,” Sebastian assessed.
Stocks leading the index in November
Xometry may have benefited from U.S. election results in November, according to Sebastian. The digital manufacturing services company operates an online business-to-business marketplace and enjoyed momentum from its third-quarter earnings, which it announced Nov. 5. Its marketplace revenue alone was up 24% year over year for the quarter, reaching $127 million.
Shopify, which reported its own third-quarter earnings on Nov. 12, grew its gross merchandise volume (GMV) 24% year over year to $69.7 billion for the period. All of that came ahead of the Cyber 5, which includes Thanksgiving and the four days that follow, when holiday shopping begins in earnest.
The ecommerce platform, which caters to merchants at various stages of growth and sales volumes, shared that those merchants achieved $11.5 billion in global sales during Black Friday through Cyber Monday. That was a 24% increase from 2023. In the meantime, the average order value for merchants on Shopify’s platform was $108.56 for those days. The company also reported that 67,000 Shopify merchants had their highest-selling day to date during that timeframe.
Revolve Group also reported third-quarter earnings at the beginning of November. As it did, the fashion-focused retailer credited lower shipping rates, a lower share of purchases being returned and increased average order value for its success, increasing net sales by 9.9% year over year to $283.1 million in Q3. In addition, Michael Mente, Revolve’s co-founder and co-CEO, mentioned merchandising efforts and use of artificial intelligence as reasons for the quarter’s improvements.
Revolve Group web sales by year
“By leveraging AI technology across our ecommerce applications, we have made it easier and more intuitive than ever before for our customers to search our site and navigate through broader categories, such as dresses, improving product discovery for the customer,” Mente said during Revolve’s third-quarter earnings call. “More than ever, we are also driving increased conversion by leveraging data to optimize the products we merchandise on specific channels to maximize revenue across mobile, desktop and social.”
When BigCommerce Holdings announced its third-quarter earnings results on Nov. 7, the company posted revenue that was up 7.3% from a year earlier to $83.7 million. Front and center, though, was BigCommerce’s new CEO, Travis Hess. BigCommerce’s board appointed Hess to replace outgoing CEO Brent Bellm. The board made that move as the company worked to improve upon net losses and address concerns over enterprise customer and revenue growth.
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