January is always an interesting month for retailers and brand

manufacturers alike. Overall sales on Amazon in January 2017

decreased by more than $1.5 billion compared to December 2016,

while a few key product groups buck the trend and show a marked

increase in sales.

Amazon’s Top 5 Product Groups for JanuaryBy Nathan Rigby, VP Sales & Marketing at One Click Retail

We expect to see a significant sales drop off, especially following record

holiday sales for product groups like Toys, the rise to fame of holiday

season darlings like the Instant Pot, and Amazon’s reaffirmation as the

world’s eCommerce giant as it

signs up the most Amazon Prime subscribers ever. This is no cause for

concern – January’s month-over-month drop in sales is the post-holiday

reset.

Post-Holiday Reset

It’s typical for many of December’s best-performing

groups to experience a significant sales decrease in

January. Toys was hit the hardest as it dropped from the

number one product group (in overall sales) in December

and out of the top 20, decreasing by nearly $300M in total

sales volume month-over-month.

Despite the MoM decrease, when we compare January’s

sales to the same period in 2016, we see some aggressive

growth bringing the total up to a healthy $2.5 billion in 1P

sales, driven by a few growth-leading product groups.

Let’s take a look at those product groups that outdid

themselves in MoM sales during the month of January.

The trend is hard to miss. With the exception of #4: Digital eBooks,

growth this January on Amazon has a business focus, driven primarily by

the upcoming tax season. TurboTax Deluxe is the favorite this January

and is the highest-selling product in both of the top 2 product groups.

The digital version helped drive a 65% growth in Digital Software, while

the physical version helped drive a 28% growth in Software, with both

categories showing a sales volume of close to $15M.

Of the top 5, Office Products is the largest of the product

groups in terms of sales volume with more than $125M, but

takes 3rd spot in terms of growth with a 12% MoM increase.

The leading office product in January was the Fujitsu iX500

ScanSnap Document Scanner, selling over $2M alone, more

than double that of the runner-up, Brother Printer TN660 High

Yield Toner.

In tandem with Office Products, Business, Industrial and Scientific Supplies

(BISS) represents some growth in sales of business-related appliances. The

BISS product group’s 5% growth was driven by the Oreck Commercial Upright

Vacuum, while another vacuum and three different 3D printers made it into

the top 10. Along with the printers, scanners and ink that made up the entirety

of the top 10 Office Products items sold, there is no denying that January is a

popular time for businesses to restock and upgrade their equipment, and get

their receipts in order for tax time.

The sole outlier of the top 5 was Digital eBooks, which experienced 11%

growth MoM with total sales at almost $75M, the second largest sales volume

of the growth groups. This is despite the fact that Books decreased by 32%.

When considering this trend alongside the very steep growth of Digital

Software, what we can see is a consumer preference for physical goods,

rather than digital, during the holiday shopping season. It’s impossible to wrap

digital software or an eBook, so those categories slow down during December

and pick back up again once the holidays are over.

Speaking of seasonal habits, we’ve also seen a strong upwards trend among self-

care products, such as Nutrition & Wellness and Exercise & Fitness both of which

have cracked the 20 product groups in Amazon’s 1P sales. It seems consumers are

putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to New Year Resolutions,

driving category-leading sales of the FitBit 2 Heart Rate and Fitness Wristband

(earning $3.8M) and a pair of Bowflex dumbbells (earning $2.5M) as well as

significant sales of weightloss aids and nicotine gum. We’ll check back on these

product groups in February to see if consumers are sticking to their resolutions.

In brief, Amazon’s January first party sales data reveals that shopping habits are highly

seasonal. December and January couldn’t look more different: the former is about

playfulness, entertainment, decadence and generosity; the latter is about professionalism,

finance, nutrition and fitness. Both of these months show clear consumer habits that are

unique to those periods and, more importantly, are predictable. These buying habits will

return with renewed force next year, so brand manufacturers should prepare to make the

most of them now: contact One Click Retail to see how the industry’s most accurate

eCommerce data and insights can drive brand manufacturers’ sales performance.

For a One Click Retail demo, email me today: nathan@oneclickretail.com

With 98% accuracy, OCR delivers the industry’s most accurate sales data to their brand

manufacturer clients selling on the world’s top eCommerce platforms. To get a glimpse of the

unique insights One Click Retail provides its customers, be sure to follow our weekly blog at

www.oneclickretail.com/insights, and following us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

One Click Retail (OCR) is a market leader in eCommerce data measurement, sales analytics and search optimization for brand manufacturers in North America, Europe and Asia. Thanks to our proprietary sales calculations that are 98.5% accurate down to the SKU level, OCR’s accuracy is unrivaled in the marketplace. The OCR Product Suite provides 1st and 3rd party business intelligence across the 30 largest retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Staples and Home Depot. The world’s top brands, such as Procter & Gamble, Panasonic, Nestle, Hamilton Beach and HP, rely on OCR insights to drive sales and profitability across eCommerce.

Founded in 2013 by eCommerce experts from Amazon, Walmart, Target, Overstock and other leading retailers, OCR was acquired in 2016 by Ascential plc (LSE: ASCL.L), a UK-based international B2B media company with a focused portfolio of market-leading events and information services products.

To learn more about how OCR can provide your brand with the competitive edge in today’s ecommerce marketplace, visit www.oneclickretail.com.

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