Even as inflation bites, consumers are still turning to Amazon

Published Fri, Oct 14 20224:34 PM EDT

A spate of fresh data this week showed consumers are feeling the sting from high inflation. While that likely means more pain for retail stocks, new Wall Street research suggests club holding Amazon (AMZN) is consumers' most preferred online shopping platform, buttressing the Club's long-term belief in the e-commerce giant. Consumer spending was flat month-over-month in September, according to an estimate of retail sales for the month provided by the Commerce Department on Friday. But those figures were not adjusted for inflation, indicating that consumer spending on retail actually fell last month. The retail sales data came on the back of the latest consumer price index survey , which showed consumer prices rose 0.4% in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday, all but ensuring another 75 basis point interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next month. Meanwhile, a consumer survey from the University of Michigan showed inflation expectations were increasing, sending stocks lower Friday. The S & P 500 closed down more than 2%. The Wall Street view In this environment of rising prices, Baird surveyed roughly 1,000 online shoppers, with a majority saying they plan to spend less on holiday purchases this year compared to last year. But while consumers are tempering their discretionary budgets this holiday season, Amazon remains their shopping platform of choice, according to Baird. Amazon is the "clear leader" in the online shopping internet space among U.S. consumers, capturing almost 60% of market share, Baird analysts wrote in a research note Friday. In a separate note Thursday, Cowen said its shopping survey of Gen Z and Millennials showed Amazon to be their "most preferred" shopping website. Respondents said speed of delivery and convenience were key factors for shopping on Amazon, outweighing price concerns, according to analysts at Cowen. The new research comes the same week as Amazon's two-day Prime Early Access Sale , the initial results of which showed that while Amazon may remain a top online retail destination it's not immune from inflationary pressures. Amazon said Prime members bought more than 100 million items during the sales event, compared to the record 300 million items purchased during Amazon's July Prime Day event. Bank of America estimated Amazon's sales event brought in $8 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), down 25% from July's $10.7 billion in GMV, according to a research note published Friday. Shares of Amazon, which have fallen more than 35% year-to-date, closed down 5% Friday, at $106.9 a share. The Club take We're happy to see that Amazon is the preferred platform for consumer shopping — but we also know its so much more than that. For example, its cloud business, Amazon Web Services, consistently posts robust revenue growth and delivers high profit margins, allowing us to be bullish on the company despite growing macroeconomic headwinds. Furthermore, Amazon's nascent agreement with the National Football League to stream "Thursday Night Football" on Prime Video has attracted a record number of Prime signups and should support advertising revenue growth. The Club continues to rate Amazon a 1, meaning we'd buy the stock here. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AMZN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

An Amazon Prime truck is pictured as it crosses the George Washington Bridge in New York.

Mike Segar | Reuters