An interesting number from Black Friday.
Despite all this growth, online purchases remain a very small portion of retail sales. Mr. Martin of ShopperTrak said that more than 90 percent of all United States retail commerce still takes place in physical stores.
I imagine that this staggering percentage of brick-and-mortar buying is due to aggressive marketing and discounting by Walmart, Best Buy, and Target. And for certain tangible things – especially clothing, and perhaps TVs – it makes sense. But it also demonstrates the tremendous upside extant in online retailing, and that Amazon’s 1,393 P/E is either very reflective of that potential, or quite far removed from current retailing reality. But perhaps change is in the air?
Silicon Spatula 