Online shoppers gravitate to mass merchants for on-site buying and omnichannel access. And they do so for purchases across industries.

Three of the top four online retail websites for apparel shopping are mass merchants. Amazon, Walmart and Target draw a large portion of online apparel sales. More specifically, four in 10 apparel buyers purchase 26% or more of their purchases on Amazon.

Mass merchants draw beauty sales

Overall, mass merchants dominate online beauty purchasing. Amazon, specifically, drew 59% of beauty-product purchases between October 2022 and March 2023, according to a Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights survey. 52% of respondents shopped with other mass merchants in the same time frame. Meanwhile, no other kinds of retailers had a 50% penetration of sales. The next largest penetration of beauty-product sales was with drug stores, at 36%. And 29% of respondents shopped with specialty beauty retailers, in particular, for such products.

Just over a third of surveyed online beauty shoppers go directly to brands for their loyalty program perks and money savings. 26% said they go directly to a brand because brands are more likely to offer free shipping, and 23% cite trust as a key factor.

Same-day delivery and flexible returns with mass merchants

38% of surveyed online shoppers ordered online from a web-only retailer for same-day delivery in the six-month period from September 2022 through February 2023. Meanwhile, 31% ordered online from a physical store for same-day delivery.

On the flip side, 24% returned an Amazon order to another retailer (such as Kohl’s) for processing back to Amazon. That compares with 19% who returned an Amazon order to an Amazon return center.

And when it came to in-store and curbside pickup, more than half of shoppers went to Walmart (63%) or Target (52%). Meanwhile, 37% of surveyed online shoppers used such services for hardware/home improvement purchases, and 34% for consumer electronics.

Amazon buying frequency

The online buying frequency among Amazon shoppers is fundamental to their success.

27% of survey respondents in September 2022 said they purchased from Amazon a few times a month. 18% said they purchase from Amazon a few times a week. Meanwhile, 3% said they purchase from it daily, and 6% said they do so multiple times a day.

Almost half of online shoppers surveyed purchased more apparel, home goods and health/beauty products on Amazon than elsewhere in 2022.

And when shoppers aren’t purchasing on Amazon, they tend to shop online at Walmart (54%), Target (36%) and specialty retailers (36%). Department stores and other marketplaces take the next largest shares of sales.

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