Retailers Naughty Or Nice This Year? App Store Data Shows Early Holiday Shopping Trends

Zinger Key Points
  • Dick's Sporting Goods, Costco and Amazon's stocks have risen during the holiday shopping season.
  • TJX Companies and Walmart's stocks have faltered in the month leading up to Christmas.

Some major retailers appear to be faring better than others during the 2023 holiday shopping season. Here’s a look at who made the "nice" list and who's on the "naughty" list this year.

Nice List

Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. DKS is at the top of the nice list with gains of nearly 20% over the past month. Dick’s Sporting Goods kicked off the holiday season with a bang after Truist Securities analyst Scot Ciccarelli reiterated the sporting goods retailer with a Buy rating and price target of $154.

Data from SimilarWeb shows that the company's mobile app has seen a significant lift in Apple, Inc's AAPL iOS App Store in recent weeks.

Costco Wholesale Corporation COST is also spreading holiday cheer to investors this season after the retailer posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings last week and issued a special $15 cash dividend to stockholders.

Costco shares are up 13% over the past month and the Costco mobile app is showing promising holiday shopping trends. According to data from Similarweb, the Costco app has trended higher in recent weeks and is currently the 11th most downloaded shopping app.

Truist Securities analyst Scot Ciccarelli maintained Costco Wholesale with a Buy rating and raised the price target from $693 to $741 on Thursday, just ahead of the final holiday shopping weekend of the year.

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN also grabbed a spot on the nice list this year by marking several consecutive new 52-week highs over the past week. Amazon’s stock reached its current 52-week high of $155.63 on Wednesday and has gained nearly 6% over the past month.

According to data from Similarweb, the Amazon shopping app is currently the 4th most downloaded shopping application in the Apple app store and usage has steadily climbed throughout December. 

Naughty List

TJX Companies, Inc. TJX made the naughty list this year after the company issued fourth-quarter guidance below analyst estimates. TJX Companies shares have gained just 2% over the last month, lagging far behind retail competitors.

Walmart Inc. WMT rounds out the naughty list with the stock having fallen 1.1% over the past month. Walmart's CFO, John David Rainey, recently said the company observed "anomalous" customer behavior when speaking at the the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference. He also noted that the trend in consumer behavior was "concerning" and "made us sit up in our chair" when evaluating consumer health and buying patterns, per Reuters. 

Walmart's mobile app appears to be faring much better than the stock. At the beginning of December, the Walmart app was ranked 20th in the App Store, but it has climbed 10 spots over the last few weeks. 

Read Next: Retailers Are Rethinking Self-Checkout As Shrinkage Rises

Image: Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

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