According to ChannelAdvisor, Google Shopping (GS) / PLA same-store-sales (SSS) grew +52% Y/Y in September, up notably from +43% Y/Y in August and +34% Y/Y in July. PLA conversion rates declined again in September (10th month in a row) as Google keeps testing different configurations of the GS ad unit (e.g. increasingly showing more products in the ad units). At the same time, the company has increased the frequency with which GS ad units show up for PLA search terms, offsetting the decline in conversions.
According to ChannelAdvisor, SSS for third-party sellers on the Amazon platform were up +12% Y/Y in September vs. +11% Y/Y in August and +6% Y/Y in July. This compares to n/a, +15% Y/Y and +15% Y/Y growth for US eCommerce (excluding Travel) in September, August and July, respectively, per comScore. SSS for the seven US retail chains still reporting monthly results grew +0.3% Y/Y in September vs. -0.5% Y/Y in August and -1.5% Y/Y in July, as half of the retailers delivered positive surprises late in this year's back-to-school season. We continue to believe that Amazon is growing roughly 2x faster than overall eCommerce and 8-10x faster than overall retail.
