Credit: Shutterstock photoWall Street may have dozed off in the fourth quarter, but consumers' shopping spree was at its peak. This holiday shopping season has come up as the best in six years. Total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.1% year over year between Nov 1 and Dec 24, according to Mastercard Spending Pulse , which tracks both online and in-store spending with all forms of payment (read: Holiday Sales Strongest in Six Years: ETFs Set to Surge ).
Online sales particularly drove the season having gained 26.4% from a year earlier between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through Black Friday, according to Adobe Analytics. Though purchases lost momentum in early December, it picked up pace ahead of Christmas.
Amazon AMZN became one of the great beneficiaries of the shopping binge. U.S.-based online retail giant announced a record-breaking holiday season as tens of millions of people have signed up for its Prime membership either through paid service or on a trial basis .
To enjoy the benefit of FREE Same-Day, One-Day or Two-Day shipping , Prime membership has caught consumers' interest this holiday season, per Amazon. "In the U.S. alone, more than 1 billion items were shipped for free this holiday with Prime," said Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
The best-selling products this holiday season included all-new Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote, and Amazon Echo smart speaker. Not only online, strong sales were recorded at Amazon's physical stores across the country.
ETFs to Tap
Given this, investors seeking to tap the bullishness in the Internet giant could consider the following ETFs. These funds have Amazon as their top firm with a double-digit allocation.
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) - The fund carries a Zacks ETF Rank #1 (Strong Buy), with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon accounts for 22.2% share (read: What Made Wall Street ETFs' Best Rally Since 2009 Possible? ).
ProShares Online Retail ETF (ONLN) - Amazon makes up for 24.0% in the fund's basket.
Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR) - This ETF has a Zacks ETF Rank #2 (Buy) with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon has 23.3% allocation.
iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (IYC) - It carries a Zacks ETF Rank #3 (Hold) with a Medium risk outlook. Here, AMZN takes 19.1% share.
VanEck Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) - The fund has a Zacks ETF Rank #2 with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon makes up for 18.38% of the assets (read: How to Play Dow's Best-Ever Gains With ETFs ).
Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (FDIS) - It has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon makes up for 23.63% in the fund's basket.
iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF (RXI) - AMZN accounts for 17.61% share in the basket.
iShares Evolved U.S. Discretionary Spending ETF (IEDI) - Amazon has 8.93% allocation.
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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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ISHARS-US CN CY (IYC): ETF Research Reports
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ISHARS-CN DI (RXI): ETF Research Reports
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
