ProShares added on to its suite of e-commerce-related ETFs with a new strategy that invests only in retailers principally selling online or through other non-store channels.
On Monday, ProShares rolled out the ProShares Online Retail ETF (NYSEArca: ONLN), which has a 0.58% expense ratio.
“We just wanted to take care of unfinished business,” Simeon Hyman, ProShares head of investment strategy, told ETF Trends in a call. “Launching the long-only strategy just made sense.”
ProShares already offers the ProShares Decline of the Retail Store ETF (NYSEArca: EMTY) and ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF (NYSEArca: CLIX), which both take a short position in brick-and-mortar retail stores to capitalize on weakness in traditional stores, whereas the new ONLN solely takes on a long position in online retailers.
“Online retail is only in the early innings. For example, compare Amazon versus Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has three times the sales of Amazon, they were the original retail disruptors,” Hyman said.
Online Retail Growth Ahead
Looking ahead, analysts expect the growth of online retail to continue. About 10% of global retail sales are currently conducted online, which leaves an e-commerce-centric strategy further room for growth. Recent data also indicated that online sales growth could double by 2030.