There are still buying opportunities to ride the shift from physical stores to e-commerce, according to Goldman Sachs.

“We believe the offline to online secular shifts across all markets and the higher levels of growth in earlier stage categories should continue to drive strong e-commerce growth into next year,” Goldman analyst Heath Terry wrote on Tuesday.

The analyst raised his forecast for the annual growth rate of global e-commerce sales by more than 10 basis points to 18% per year from 2018 to 2021. He noted e-commerce in China, Latin America, and India continues to grow rapidly and physical store closures seem to be accelerating.

Terry said U.S. companies have announced the closure of 11,000 stores already this year. He noted CoreSight Research projects 12,000 by year-end. Goldman estimates there will be $7.5 billion in sales opportunities due to the store closures.

“Pure-play eCommerce companies like Amazon continue to benefit from greater access to consumer data and purchase history that enables not only compelling consumer experiences but also delivers efficiency and competitive benefits,” he wrote.

Goldman said Amazon (AMZN), Alibaba (BABA), and JD.com (JD) were among the “best investment opportunities” currently to benefit from the global growth in e-commerce. The firm has Buy ratings on all three companies and price targets of $2,400, $236, and $46, respectively, for the internet stocks.



{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.