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Bricks and Mortar Take On Prime Day Challenge: 4 Hot Picks

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As Amazon Prime Day is round the corner, brick-and-mortar retailers are looking for ways to compete with the astounding sales that are almost scaling near the “Black Friday” level. Brick-and-mortar retailers are coming up with an array of special offers and discounts to attract customers and lessen Amazon Prime Day’s impact.

This calls for investing in retailers poised to gain from their promotional sales campaigns during this Amazon Prime Day event.

How Prime Day Affects Retailers

This year’s Prime Day starts off on Jul 16 and wraps up on Jul 17. This will include over 1 million deals, more than 50% compared to the year-ago period. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) is expected to generate $3.6 billion in sales on Prime Day this year, which will mark the biggest annual sales event ever, per Wall Street pundits. Prime Day, in fact, has already grown from $900 million in sales in 2015 to $2.41 billion in 2017.

Daniel Ives, head of research for the marketing insights firm GBH Insights, estimated that 60-70% of all the items on Amazon.com will be on a discount. Amazon is, further, offering its Prime members a $10 credit for spending $10 at Whole Foods Market stores. Amazon also doubled the cash-back bonus for Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card holders from 5% to 10%, provided they shop at Whole Foods. These schemes are part of the online giant’s efforts to build business at Whole Foods.

The Prime Day event has been quite a success story for Amazon, but, it does affect the weekly rhythm of traffic to brick-and-mortar retailers. Sarah Spangle, director of communications at Foursquare, has estimated a drop of less than 1% foot-traffic at electronic stores to some 3% at department stores around earlier Prime Day events. PlaceIQ also added that brick-and-mortar retailers do feel the heat on Prime Day.

The figures show the foot-traffic changes during the Sunday to Tuesday time period for a regular week, and the Prime Day week.

Source: PlaceIQ

Retailers Hit Back on Prime Day

Brick-and-mortar retailers, thus, have found ways to counter the online retailer’s spectacular annual sales event. They have started to plan their own promotional events around Prime Day. Target Corporation (TGT - Free Report) , in particular, is offering free two-day shipping on orders over $35 and a 5% discount for REDcard holders. Shoppers who spend more than $100 on the Jul 17 sale will get a free six-month membership for Shipt-powered same-day delivery.

Kohl’s Corporation, for example, is giving 15% off on every online purchase and $10 Kohl’s cash for every $50 spent. Kohl’s is also luring customers to buy its charge card by offering an additional 30% off on the first purchase made. 

Additionally, Macy's has started to host Black Friday in advance by offering savings on items across the store. Grocers have also joined the big sales offer, with The Kroger Co. (KR - Free Report) giving its customers $100 in digital coupons for organic items and Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. offering up to 35% off on more than 600 items. These offers are aimed at competing directly with Whole Foods Market stores.

Other notable big retailers, offering a slew of sales and special offers, include Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY - Free Report) , Walmart Inc. (WMT - Free Report) , Nordstrom Inc. and GameStop Corp., to name a few. Best Buy is offering same price as that of Amazon on the same product, Walmart has begun its back-to-school sales, Nordstorm is offering access to its anniversary sale and GameStop has started its Game Days Summer Sales on video games.

4 Top Gainers

As brick-and-mortar retailers prepare to lessen the impact of Amazon Prime Day with a wide range of sales and special offers, it won’t be a bad proposition to invest in them now. We have, thus, selected four such stocks that can make the most of the Prime Day event. These stocks also flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).

Best Buy operates as a retailer of technology products, services and solutions. Currently, the company has a Zacks Rank 2. In the last 60 days, seven earnings estimates moved north, while one moved south for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings rose 2% in the same period. The stock has outperformed the broader industry so far this year (+10.8% vs +8%).

The Kroger manufactures and processes food products for sale in its supermarkets. The company has a Zacks Rank 2. In the last 60 days, eight earnings estimates moved north, while none moved south for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings increased 2.4% in the same period. The stock has outperformed the broader industry in the year-to-date period (+2.2% vs -9.3%).

Shoe Carnival, Inc. (SCVL - Free Report) operates as a family footwear retailer in the United States. The retail chain is turning its attention to boosting its online offerings. But, the company’s vice president of digital, Kent Zimmerman, did mention that they are offering the option to pick items offered online from stores. In this process, customers will visit the brick-and-mortar stores.

The company currently has a Zacks Rank 1. In the last 60 days, two earnings estimates moved north, while none moved south for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings rose 5.7% in the same period. The stock has outperformed the broader industry so far this year (+23.3% vs -0.5%). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

 

Dillard’s, Inc. (DDS - Free Report) operates retail department stores primarily in the Southeastern, Southwestern, and Midwestern areas of the United States. Dillard’s is presently offering deals such as spend $60, save $20 on beauty products to counter the Amazon Prime Day craze.

The company currently has a Zacks Rank 2. In the last 60 days, three earnings estimates moved north, while none moved south for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings advanced 4.6% in the same period. The stock has outperformed the broader industry in the year-to-date period (+42.5% vs +32.2%).

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