New results are in from October 2025 activity in the Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index. Online retailers faced downward pressure as the category dropped 7% and the overall index fell 3.9% by the month’s end. As both declined, Shopify and Amazon were among the stocks seeing gains, helped by interest in artificial intelligence (AI) news throughout the month.
In the meantime, both 1-800-Flowers.com and Bed Bath & Beyond struggled, seeing their own declines of more than 20% each.
October takeaways from the Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index
- The Baird/Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce Stock Index was down 3.9% month over month in October, with online retailers down the most as a category.
- Shopify (+17%) and Amazon (+11%) were among October’s best performers, helped by AI-related announcements.
- The index’s worst October performers included 1-800-Flowers (-22%), Bed Bath & Beyond (-21%) and Carvana (-19%).
This index is a collaboration between Digital Commerce 360 and the financial advisory, capital markets, asset management and private equity firm Baird. It intends to provide perspective into how public markets value companies and technology providers that power digital commerce. 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 2000 Database. 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.
Click here to read September’s ecommerce stock index results.
October ecommerce stock index results
“The Baird/Digital Commerce Ecommerce Stock Index declined 3.9% in October compared to the end of September — the first monthly downdraft after five consecutive positive months, and underperforming the broader S&P index, which was up 2.3%,” said Colin Sebastian, Baird’s managing director and senior research analyst covering internet/ecommerce.
Online Retail was the hardest-hit category in the index for the month, down 7% at the month’s close. Sebastian suggested some investors may be bracing for softening consumer spending in the months to come. Meanwhile, Ecommerce Technology remained flat from September.
“With the first wave of Q3 earnings reports now in the books, we note that broader ecommerce trends appear healthy, and with investors increasingly focused on the impact of commerce through AI platforms, such as OpenAI,” Sebastian explained. “For the year-to-date, the Ecommerce Index is now up 11.6%, also below the S&P (+16.3% YTD).”
The index’s October decline broke a five-month growth streak. Still, Baird’s expectations for the end of 2026 remain at a similar level to the past month.
“At this point, we continue to expect approximately 6% year-over-year ecommerce growth in the U.S. for 2025, although that includes some deceleration in growth expected over the holiday season on a tougher growth comparison from last year,” Sebastian stated.
AI news helps index leaders in October
“Top overall stock performers in the index during October were Shopify (+17%), Wayfair (+16%) and Amazon (+11%), each reacting to ongoing healthy ecommerce growth trends, with Amazon also getting a boost from accelerating growth in the company’s AWS cloud segment,” Sebastian said.
Ahead of Shopify’s latest earnings results, which saw gross merchandise volume (GMV) grow 30% in its Q3, the ecommerce platform provider made significant announcements about its latest AI moves. Those included being an early user of ChatGPT’s new checkout experience, while also partnering with Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity in other cases. All the while, the company continued to add big names to its list of online merchants, such as e.l.f Cosmetics, Estée Lauder and David’s Bridal.
Currently, 118 of the Top 2000 online retailers in North America use Shopify as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2024, the combined web sales of all Top 2000 retailers that used Shopify’s ecommerce platform reached $10.496 billion. The Top 2000 Database ranks North America’s largest online retailers based on their annual ecommerce sales and more.
Wayfair announced its Q3 earnings results in October. It beat analysts’ expectations, achieving a fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth. During the quarter, Wayfair revenue reached $3.12 billion, rising 8.1% year over year.
At the same time, the home furnishings retailer remained resilient in 2025’s tariff environment. Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman at Wayfair, told analysts during the company’s earnings call that Wayfair’s leadership “really have not seen any consumer behavior based on the tariffs.”
Elsewhere, Amazon highlighted new AI-powered tools for its customers and fulfillment centers, where it is testing new robotics deployments. The company has since challenged Perplexity’s new Comet web browser in legal threats and a lawsuit. Amazon disputes whether or not Perplexity’s agentic AI technology should be able to access and interact with Amazon product listings.
During its most recent fiscal Q3, Amazon increased sales by 12% year over year to $180.2 billion. Of that total, AWS accounted for $33 billion, up 20% year over year on its own as Amazon announced a new $38 billion AWS deal with OpenAI.
Amazon is No. 1, and Wayfair is No. 10 in the Top 2000. In addition, Amazon is No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces database. That database ranks the top such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).
Weakest performers in October
Among the deepest declines in October, both 1-800-Flowers.com and the recently renamed Bed Bath & Beyond saw dips of 20% or more.
In 1-800-Flowers.com’s case, share prices fell 22% by the end of the month as the company missed revenue expectations. Its total consolidated revenues decreased 11.1% year over year to $215.2 million in its fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 28. The company also announced on Oct. 30 that its net loss during the quarter expanded to $53.0 million from $34.2 million a year earlier.
In Bed Bath & Beyond’s case, net revenue declined 17.4% year over year to $257.2 million in its recent fiscal third quarter. The retailer reported on Oct. 27 that it had reduced its net loss by 93% from one year ago to $4.5 million.
Bed Bath & Beyond web sales by year
Marcus Lemonis, executive chairman and principal executive officer at Bed Bath & Beyond, said he expects “year-over-year revenue trends to turn positive” as turnaround efforts continue.
Bed Bath & Beyond recently committed to a new $3 million investment in GrainChain. GrainChain is an agriculture and financial technology company in which Lemonis sees promising supply chain solutions.
1-800-Flowers.com is No. 59 in the Top 2000, and Bed Bath & Beyond is No. 71.
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