New results are in from January 2025 activity in the Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index. In the first month of the year, online retailers led the way among index categories. In doing so, they lifted the overall index to a 10.1% improvement from the end of December. That was better than the S&P 500, which was up 2.7% over the same period.
Ultimately, holiday ecommerce sales, as well as success among international stocks, fueled January’s gains. Importantly, they did so even as potential market disruption from tariffs lingered. Meanwhile, individual stories played out at Beyond, Inc., JD.com and Instacart, among others, which saw January’s most noteworthy increases in share price.
January takeaways from Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index
- The Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index increased 10.1% in January as the S&P rose 2.7% from its December close.
- The holiday shopping season and positive government data helped the index’s Online Retail category to improve 17% from the end of 2024.
- The top-performing stocks from the index in January were Beyond, JD.com, Carvana and Instacart.
This index is a collaboration between Digital Commerce 360 and the financial advisory, capital markets, asset management and private equity firm Baird. It is intended to provide perspective into how companies and technology providers that power digital commerce are being valued in public markets. The index contains four categories capturing activity extending throughout the Americas and China:
- Online Marketplaces
- Online Retail
- Ecommerce Technology
- International Companies
Readers should note that this index complements insights from Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 data. That database specifically tracks North American online retailers and their web sales. 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 December’s ecommerce stock index results here.
January ecommerce stock index results
“The Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index has a good start to the year, increasing 10.1% for the month of January, and outperforming the 2.7% increase in the broader S&P index,” said Colin Sebastian, Baird’s managing director and senior research analyst covering internet/ecommerce. “With respect to sub-sectors of ecommerce included in the index, shares of online retailers rose by the biggest amount, almost 17% higher than December, with positive retail sales data reported by government agencies for the key holiday shopping period and a strong performance by Beyond, Inc. (aka Overstock.com).”
U.S. online holiday sales increased 8.7% year over year in 2024, according to Adobe Analytics data that Digital Commerce 360 previously reported. In total, ecommerce sales reached $241.4 billion for the season across November and December.
Beyond and Carvana previously saw share prices decline in December’s ecommerce stock index results. A month later, both showed signs of resilience. As they did, other index categories saw improvements as well.
“International ecommerce also outperformed, increasing 13.1% from December, driven by strength in Chinese-based platforms, while ecommerce technology stocks were up 8.4% and online marketplaces increased 3% for the month, with Instacart the biggest gainer (+17%) and notable underperformance from Xometry (-22%),” Sebastian noted.
Nevertheless, tariff concerns remain unresolved in the U.S. where U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with a 10% tariff on imports from China. The Canada and Mexico tariffs were put on pause for 30 days after both announced retaliatory measures and initial talks took place between the U.S. and its neighboring countries in February. Still, the China tariff remained in place after China rolled out measures of its own in response.
“Baird views the overall January index performance as reflecting a positive close to the holiday shopping season and anticipation of healthy quarterly earnings reports, despite falling consumer confidence,” Sebastian explained. “We note that currency headwinds and concerns over tariffs could lead to some additional volatility across the ecommerce sector, although we continue to expect positive (7%-8%) online retail growth in the U.S. this year.”
Stocks leading the index in January
In Online Retail, Beyond shares finished January 69% above their final price at the end of December, rebounding downward pressure in the final months of 2024. The company closed December with a $25 million agreement with Kirkland’s in place that could give Bed Bath & Beyond a physical store footprint. Then, in December, a similar deal with The Container Store appeared to be off as The Container Store filed for bankruptcy. Beyond was still in dealmaking mode in February, though, announcing a $5 million agreement to acquire former Bed Bath & Beyond property Buybuy Baby, potentially bringing it back to stores as well.
Beyond is No. 68 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 Database of the largest North American online retailers. Digital Commerce 360 currently projects Beyond’s total web sales in 2025 will reach $1.34 billion.
Beyond web sales by year
Likewise, Carvana weathered challenges as well, seeing volatility after a Jan. 2 report from the short-seller Hindenburg Research called the company’s turnaround story into question, stating it had “uncovered $800 million in loan sales to a suspected undisclosed related party, along with details on how accounting manipulation and lax underwriting have fueled temporary reported income growth.” Less than two weeks later, Hindenburg announced plans to disband.
In response to the report, Carvana called Hindenberg’s claims “intentionally misleading and inaccurate.”
As for Instacart, the last-mile delivery app positioned itself to benefit from procrastination during the 2024 holiday shopping season. It offered 25% discounts from retailer partners including Sephora, Best Buy and The Home Depot during the seven days before Christmas. Instacart, along with its competitors DoorCash and Uber Eats, have aggressively pursued new fast-delivery retail partners over the past year. All three have rushed to serve demand for fast delivery among Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.
In November, Instacart reported an 11% year-over-year increase in gross transaction value (GTV) of $8.3 billion.
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