FXstreet

If you think you’re too late to profit from e-commerce bonanza, think again.

Because even though the first web-based purchase was made more than 20 years ago, online shopping is still growing at a breathtaking pace, with a 15% expansion in 2015 alone.

But despite that fast growth, web-based purchases only made up 7.4% of total US retail sales in the third quarter, according to the Census Bureau, so the trend has plenty of room to run yet.



Of Picks, Shovels and Clicks

When most people think of e-commerce, the first name that leaps to mind is Amazon.com (AMZN). There’s good reason for that: according to Macquarie Research, the retail giant accounted for more than half of all e-commerce growth last year.

Put another way, of every extra dollar Americans spent online in 2015, $0.51 went to Amazon. But be that as it may, Amazon, with its razor-thin profit margins, lack of a dividend and nosebleed P/E ratio of 426, is far from my favorite way to play this trend.

more...