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When investors think about online retail stocks, certainly the first name that comes to mind is retail behemoth Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ). Not only has it surpassed brick-and-mortar competitor Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT ) as the largest global retailer, but in the growing world of online retail, it holds approximately a quarter of the market share . Amazon will report its first quarter earnings on April 28th after the close. Amazon had a streak going of beating earnings until last quarter when it missed analyst expectations by 38%. Going into this quarter, it faces many of the same issues. The company is heavily reinvesting into business: partnering with Air Transport Services Group (NASDAQ: ATSG ) to boost shipping and logistics, buying content for its newly announced stand-alone streaming video service, and investing in new devices such as the Echo. Despite its position as a market leader and its bright growth prospects, as an investment, Amazon stock is down more than 8.5% YTD versus a positive return of 2.5% for the S&P 500 Index. Thanks to an uncertain earnings outlook coupled with a premium P/E ratio of more than 500X earnings, Amazon has failed to beat the market this year. Fortunately, Amazon is not the only name to play in the online retail space. EQM Indexes launched its Online Retail Index ((IBUYXT)) on December 1, 2015. The Index is now being tracked by the Amplify Online Retail ETF (NASDAQ: IBUY ), which launched on April 20 of this year. The index is comprised of a basket of global companies involved in three primary market segments: online retail, online marketplace, and online travel. The index is NOT capitalization weighted which allows equal exposure to other companies in the industry. The Investment Case for Online Retail Almost everyone has purchased merchandise online. Ecommerce is the fastest growing segment of retail sales. Global online sales are expected to grow 117% by 2018 . So as an investment theme, you can make a strong argument that online retail is a good place to have exposure. Online retail exhibits strong growth characteristics, continues to gain market share relative to brick-and-mortar retail, and is expanding globally. Thanks to advantages such as competitive pricing, shopping convenience, greater product selection, and rapid delivery, online commerce appears to be a disruptive technology that is here to stay. The mall isn’t dead, it has just moved online! Other Names in Online Retail Looking at the year-to-date performance of the stocks within the EQM Online Retail Index, Amazon is not even among the top-ten performers. Indeed, many of the top-performing names are companies that 1) US investors only have limited access to, OR 2) are names that they may not be familiar with. Let’s start with the top-performing name in the Index this year aptly named Start Today ( OTCPK:SATLF ), a Japanese e-commerce apparel retailer. The stock, which trades locally in Japan, but also as a U.S. ADR, is up more than 29% on a US dollar basis this year. Online retailer Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK ) is also up more than 24% this year, after posting strong Q4 results in February. Also up in excess of 23% this year is Canadian-based Shopify (NYSE: SHOP ), a leading cloud-based commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Clearly, Amazon stock is not the only game in town! Online retail offers a diverse and global set of opportunities. Indeed, retail is not the only industry that has been transformed by online commerce. Online travel has almost put travel agencies out of business by democratizing the price and availability of travel and vacation options. Besides U.S. names in the online travel space such as Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN ), Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE ), and TripAdvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP ), there are many global players that have delivered strong growth and investment performance. Makemytrip Ltd. (NASDAQ: MMYT ) is an India-based online travel retailer that allows travelers to research and plan trips. One of the key strengths of online commerce is that it is not limited by geographic boundaries. While Makemytrip may cater to specific demographics, its offerings are available around the globe. The stock is up 8.9% YTD. So just like ecommerce offers broad access to all types of merchandise, owning a basket of names in online retail offers diversified exposure to this attractive thematic opportunity. That is not to say that all performance is rosy in online-retail land. Chinese online beauty retailer Jumei International (NYSE: JMEI ), online jewelry retailer Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE ), and UK food delivery service Just Eat Plc ( OTC:JSTLF ) are all down in excess of 20% this year as they have struggled to execute. Expect more consolidation in the online retail industry, especially in online travel, as the stronger players gobble up their smaller competitors. Expedia acquired competitor Home Away last December in the online travel space. And Japanese travel booking site Ikyu was purchased by Yahoo! Japan in a deal that closed in February . What about other retail ETFs? Interestingly, while other retail sector ETFs offer broad exposure to traditional retail, their exposure to ecommerce and virtual retail is extremely limited. Look at the limited exposure among retail and internet ETF offerings. ETF Ticker # of Online Retail Stocks % Weight AMZN % Weight Non-US? Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SDPR Fund XLY 5 17.17 11.25 N SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT 12 11.35 1.17 N PowerShares Dynamic Retail Portfolio PMR 1 3.03 0.00 N Market Vectors Retail ETF RTH 2 19.50 14.95 Y First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund FDN 7 30.55 10.18 N as of 12/31/15 Furthermore, most of these ETFs are U.S. focused and fail to offer exposure to the many non-U.S. companies that are innovators in the space. Conclusion In summary, there are many reasons investors should want exposure to a globally diverse basket of stocks focused on online retail sales, rather than owning just a name or two: Get diversified investment exposure to the fastest growing global segments of online commerce: online retail, online marketplace, and online travel Participate in the accelerating growth potential being fueled by trends such as mobile growth and user-interface innovation Gain access to online retail growth opportunities outside the U.S. At the end of the day, the universe of opportunities is broader and more diverse than just Amazon. Disclosure It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Exposure to an asset class represented by an index is available through investable instruments based on that index. EQM Indexes does not sponsor, endorse, sell, promote or manage any investment fund or other investment vehicle that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. EQM Indexes makes no assurance that investment products based on the Index will accurately track index performance or provide positive investment returns. EQM Indexes is not an investment advisor, and makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any such investment fund or other investment vehicle. A decision to invest in any such investment fund or other investment vehicle should not be made in reliance on any of the statements set forth on this website. Prospective investors are advised to make an investment in any such fund or other vehicle only after carefully considering the risks associated with investing in such funds, as detailed in an offering memorandum or similar document that is prepared by or on behalf of the issuer of the investment fund or other vehicle. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by EQM Indexes to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice. Disclosure: I am/we are long IBUY. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks. Scalper1 News
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