Major retail earnings:

Best Buy reported revenue of $11.8B, up 20% compared to last year and its previous quarter. The company’s profits stood at $391M, up 34% YoY.

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• The company’s domestic segment contributed to $10.8B in revenue, and its comparable online sales grew by 173%.
• BestBuy CFO Matt Bilunas said that the company would have higher parcel surcharges and lower margins on popular holiday gifts, and hence he doesn’t expect the growth to be similar to Q3.
• The company’s share price has fallen by 5% on the news announcement. It has increased by 38% YTD.

Gap Inc. reported revenue of $4B for Q3 2020, similar to last year. Its profit decreased by 32% YoY to $95M. The company’s share price fell by 17% on the news announcement.

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• Gap's online sales grew by 61% and comparable sales increased by 5%.
• The company's brands Old Navy (+17%) and Athleta (+37%) revenue grew compared to last year and contributed to 63% of the company’s revenue. However, it was offset by the reduced sales in GAP (-5%) and Banana Republic (-30%) brands. 
• The company’s share price has increased by 18% since the beginning of this year and currently has a market cap of $10B, compared to Macy’s $3B and Levi Strauss $7.7B.

Walmart announced it has created a new program to fulfill e-commerce orders directly from their stores as opposed to e-commerce fulfillment centers. The retailer said it will rely on existing local delivery capabilities to ensure faster delivery, while reducing the burden on its fulfillment centers.

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• Walmart has 4,700 retail locations in the U.S., meaning 90% of the population lives within 10 miles of physical store. Delivery options are currently available at 2,800 stores, which covers 66% of the country.
• The retail giant claims the move is environmentally friendly and cost-effective as fewer boxes will go out. Walmart said there won't be any changes to its app or website and customers won't experience delays ahead of a busy holiday season.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce activity has surged. Walmart's online sales went up by 97% in Q2 and 79% in Q3.
• The new program is the latest in a series of moves Walmart has made to expand its e-commerce services. In October the company turned four of its retail locations into partial e-commerce hubs as part of a test.
• Earlier this month Walmart announced plans to add 42 "pop-up eCommerce Distribution Centers" and it will hire 20,000 seasonal associates to meet the surge in e-commerce demand during the holidays.

Other retail earnings round-ups:

Tiffany:

• Tiffany reported revenue of $1B for Q3 2020, similar to last year. Its profit increased to $119M from $78M last year, for the same period.
• The company’s sales in China increased by 70% YoY, and its global e-commerce sales increased by 92% YoY.

Dick's Sporting Goods:

• Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a $2.4B revenue for Q3 2020, up 20% YoY. The company’s profit increased by 300% to $177M.
• The company’s e-commerce sales increased by 95%, and same-store sales increased by 23% as consumers bought more workout gear/equipment and sporting goods.

Nordstrom:

• The company reported a $3B revenue for Q3 2020, 16% down YoY, but up 68% over the previous quarter. The company’s profit stood at $53M, compared to a loss of $255M in the previous quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch:

• Abercrombie & Fitch reported revenue of $820M for Q3 2020, down 5% YoY. The company’s e-commerce sales were up 43% YoY, and it contributed to 47% of overall revenue.
• The company said that it would close four more flagship stores in the next two months, in addition to the three more it announced earlier.

Amazon announced customers across the country will be allowed to have their orders delivered to a physical Amazon Books, Hub or 4-Star location.  The announcement is part of Amazon's push to get consumers to pickup their orders from a physical location ahead of a busy holiday season.

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• Amazon has promoted this new option as way to keep the holidays spoiler-free, given that the majority of Americans are staying home on account of COVID-19. Thanks to an “Amazon Day” delivery option, consumers can select what day they'd like to receive their order.
• Amazon would greatly benefit from customers electing to pick-up their order as it would reduce the number of last-mile delivery trips, which are labor-intensive and expensive.
• Online sales this holiday are expected to surge by 33% YoY during the holidays to a record $189B, and delivery companies such as FedEx and UPS have warned for months of a potential capacity shortage.

E-Commerce funding tracker:

• RevLifter enables retailers to provide personalized deals across various marketing channels. It raised $4.2M for investors, including Maven Capital Partners and Gresham House Ventures. 
• Salla is a Saudi Arabia-based e-commerce platform that helps businesses build online stores and raised $8.5M.
• India’s used-car platform Cars24 raised $200M in a funding round led by DST Global.
• Payment solutions provider Cashfree raised $35M.
• MeUndies is an underwear and loungewear company. It raised $40M in Series C.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules that would enable gig works to receive a particular portion of their compensation through stock options. The proposal comes after California voted for Prop 22, which exempts platform companies like Uber from reclassifying their workers as employees.

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• According to the proposal, the stock option would be limited to a maximum cap of $75,000 over three years, and 15% of compensation over 12 months.
• The proposal is subjected to a 60-day public comment period, which would end after the current chairman concludes his tenure by the year-end.
• Public gig economy companies include Uber, Lyft, and GrubHub. Other companies, including DoorDash, Instacart, and Airbnb, have filed for IPOs recently.

QUICK HITS

• An algorithm that analyzes Twitter comments and invests in crypto is beating the S&P. *
• Amazon has partnered with the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a U.S. government watchdog group to inspect counterfeit products.
• Dija, a U.K. based delivery startup has raised $20m. The company was started by former Deliveroo employees.
• Online sales in Canada are expected to exceed 2019's total of $305B and set a new record.
• JD.com, China's second largest e-commerce company will hire 15,000 employees for two new distribution centers. It is considering spinning off its logistics business.

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