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With a nod to Father’s Day, online sales soared 10% in June, by far the largest monthly year-over-year increase in growth this year and the first to hit double digits, Signifyd ecommerce data shows.
This was all good news for retailers because honoring that all-important guy seemed to boost sales across most verticals. The leaders in June sales were electronics, up 7%, and sporting goods, up 6%, year over year, Signifyd data shows. Even the beleaguered home goods vertical, in which sales growth from last year has been in negative territory all year, finally broke through and rose 2% in June from last year. Perhaps it was those dad gifts of home improvement tools.
Ecommerce stats: June was better to some verticals than to others
Sales growth in the apparel, accessory and footwear vertical hit a year low in June, but still rose 3% from a year ago. This was helped by increases in fashion (12%) and luggage (40%). Jewelry sales plummeted in June to -17% from a year ago, and shoe sales, which have been strong this year, declined from last month but still rose 5%, Signifyd data shows. Who needs shoes in the summer anyway.
But a closer look at Signifyd’s ecommerce growth statistics shows that, overall, consumers had to pay a lot more for less than a year ago. In June, the average order value (AOV) increase continued to hover in the low single digits, up 3% in June from last year. But coupled with a slight 1% increase in the number of transactions and with product volume taking a dive at -12%, there were fewer products in the shopping cart and fewer dollars in the wallet.
Apparel finally cools
This trend of paying more for less was exemplified in the apparel vertical, where the June AOV was up 2% from a year ago, but the number of transactions and product volume plummeted 15% and 21%, respectively. In health and beauty, the only vertical in June to decline in sales growth, at -2%, the AOV was up 10% but transactions and product volume were down, 9% and 10%, respectively.
Interestingly, in a complete reversal, June sales growth of sporting goods showed an entirely different trend, this one of consumers paying less to purchase more items.
For the second consecutive month, Signifyd online ecommerce statistics show the change in transactions and product volume of sporting goods sales in June far exceeded the change in AOV, perhaps due to savvy shoppers who track sales or buy off-brand or low-ticket items in smaller quantities. In fact, June’s AOV in sporting goods declined by 13% from a year ago, while the number of transactions rose 23% and product volume was up 7%. That’s a lot of fishing rods.
- About three-quarters of consumers planned to spend a record $22.9 billion on Father’s Day gifts, up $2.9 billion from a year ago, with 43% of those purchases online, according to a survey of the National Retail Association. The average spend per person was expected at $196.23, up about $25 from last year and a record high.
- The popular buy now, pay later program took a dive in June from a year ago, plummeting by 16%, Signifyd data shows. Perhaps many consumers already bought and are now in the pay-later stage.
- All verticals showed overall year-over-year sales growth in June except for health and beauty, which hasn’t seen positive y-o-y growth since January, Signifyd pulse data shows.
- Gift card sales were flat in June, but the spending of gift cards rose 154% in June from a year ago, Signifyd data shows.
Ecommerce scams and ecommerce fraud trends
Fraudsters don’t take vacations and they were at it again in June, launching their bot attacks, spoofing attempts and circling consumer’s aged accounts trying to infiltrate. Bad news for fraudsters, though: Signifyd’s AI doesn’t take time off either.
In June, bot attacks increased overall 239% from a year ago, and aged account fraud attempts, when scammers try to take over accounts that have gone dormant, rose 281%, Signifyd data shows. Total spoofing attempts rose 219% in June from last year. These spoofing scams try to mask the device or IP address from which an order originates to fool the merchant.
June ecommerce fraud trends |
|
| Fraud pressure | 109% |
| Consumer abuse | -7% |
| Account takeover pressure | 281% |
| Bot attacks | 239% |
| Device spoofing | 146% |
| Geo spoofing | 73% |
The health and beauty vertical was targeted the most by bot attacks, which rose 120% in June from a year ago, and it also had its share of aged account pressure, which rose 157%. Electronics was most heavily targeted by scammers trying to weasel into aged accounts, with fraud pressure rising 249% from a year ago.
The good news among the fraudster tales is that consumer abuse, which soared in May, declined overall by 7% in June from a year ago and is down or in negative figures across most verticals.
Customer abuse is when legitimate customers make false claims that an item was not received (INR), or that an item that was damaged or significantly not as described (SNAD). In May, these claims were off the charts but dropped dramatically in June, with INR claims down 42% and SNAD down 36%, year over year.
Health and beauty had the most significant rise in consumer abuse, up 249% from a year ago, Signifyd data shows. It was a rough month for health and beauty.
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