Baird Equity Research recently surveyed 670 online shoppers, and the results revealed that Amazon was solidly the preferred online shopping destination -- with nearly 60% preferring Amazon over Walmart.
Context is important here, however, as Amazon is newly facing big challenges as both Walmart and Target started investing aggressively to enhance their e-commerce presence and services. In previous years, this level of competition was less of a threat.
Perhaps acknowledging the competition, Amazon gave up little ground -- in order to woo its customers, it started offering deep discounts and delivery conveniences, in a concerted effort to stay fresh on the minds of online shoppers when it comes to holiday shopping.
According to the Baird report, in terms of actual sales Amazon accounted for nearly 39.1% of the overall gross merchandise volume in 2018, while Walmart accounted for a little more than 3% and Target stood at just over 1%.
However, the report also added that Amazon's fourth-quarter growth as a percentage of overall e-commerce increases experienced a dip, as the company's online sales growth fell below 20% for the first time in at least three years. It also indicated that Amazon saw a 20% decline in its share of e-commerce growth, thus standing at just above 50%, down from the 70% range in the recent quarters.