01/21/15 09:29 AM EST

Retail Callouts (1/21): NKE, AMZN, LB, JCP, SHLD, ZU, ICSC

Brian McGough

Alec Richards

Takeaway: E-comm biggest movers in 2014. Pos: NKE, ZU. Neg: Toys, LB, JCP, Zappos, SHLD. Easy comps and gas prices haven't flowed through ICSC #'s.

ECONOMIC DATA

Takeaway: A slight acceleration on both the 1 and 2yr trend lines, but January numbers aren't exactly blowing the roof off through the first 3-weeks of Jan. Comps are easy because of last year’s polar vortex, the average price of a gallon of gas is 40% below LY, but we still haven't seen that translate into $$$ at the retail cash register, or at least not the retailers that ICSC tracks.

COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS

NKE, LB, AMZN - Who were America’s biggest Web traffic winners and losers in 2014?

(http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/01/20/americas-biggest-web-traffic-winners-losers-2014/)

Takeaway: We track visitation stats through half a dozen sources for 250 sites across retail. But this is an interesting snapshot of the biggest winners and losers across the whole e-comm spectrum. Notable callouts on the negative side: Toys R Us, LB, JCP, AMZN (zappos.com), SHLD. On the positive side: NKE, ZU, AMZN (6pm.com). The two names that surprised on the negative side were LB and zappos. The first makes sense given the brand discontinued its direct apparel business in 2014. Zappos on the other hand made us pause, until we ran the numbers and found that while Zappos online market share in apparel and footwear has held flat in the 4.7% range for the past 4 years, AMZN has increased its penetration by 420bps to 14.7%. The more interesting thing to us is Nike on the positive side, which is the only Brand or Brick and Mortar retailer to land in the top 35. As we outlined in our Athletic Black book in December, 46% of consumers would prefer to visit nike.com first when shopping Nike footwear or apparel online. That coupled with the company's more vocal stance on its desire to grow its own DTC business = a significant headwind for traditional wholesale accounts.