IBUY vs ISHP

IBUYBAmplify Online Retail ETF

ISHPCFirst Trust S-Network E-Commerce ETF

In short

IBUY The original online-retail bet. Since 2016, IBUY has tracked a global index of roughly 80 companies whose business is selling over the internet, rather than a US-only slice of the e-commerce theme.

ISHP Most e-commerce funds buy the storefronts. ISHP buys the whole stack: search and social, online retail, marketplaces, and the payments-and-logistics plumbing behind checkout, across global exchanges.

Stated mandate

IBUY The fund seeks investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the price and yield of the EQM Online Retail Index.

ISHP The Fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the S-Network Global E-Commerce Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 90% of net assets in the Index's common stocks and depository receipts.

Why people hold it

• IBUY One of the first funds built purely around online retail, running since 2016. It has a track record through a full boom-and-bust cycle in the theme.
• Global mandate, roughly 80 names. You get overseas marketplaces alongside US sellers instead of a handful of domestic mega-caps.amplifyetfs.com
• Tight fit to the label: it follows the EQM Online Retail Index and lands in the upper half of ETF.net's e-commerce peer group.amplifyetfs.com

• ISHP The index only admits companies earning at least half their revenue from content navigation, online retail, online marketplaces or e-commerce infrastructure. No tourists.sec.gov
• Global by design: the index pulls from major exchanges worldwide, and the fund normally keeps at least 90% of net assets in those stocks and depositary receipts.sec.gov
• At 0.60%, the fee sits under the median for its e-commerce cohort and below IBUY's 0.65%, and the fund pays distributions quarterly.
• Roughly 70 holdings spread the theme across the whole checkout chain rather than a few megacap names, and the fund stands in the upper half of its e-commerce peer group.

Worth knowing

• IBUY 0.65% a year sits at the middle of the e-commerce pack and above cheaper rivals like ONLN (0.58%) and EBIZ (0.50%).
• A smaller, lightly traded fund. Spreads can be wider than the category's giants, so the price you see may not be the price you get on big orders.
• One narrow theme, and income is not the point: distributions come at most a couple of times a year.

• ISHP Small asset base and thin trading: spreads can run wider than in the category's busiest funds, and sizable orders can push the price around.
• The 2016 launch date belongs to an earlier life. It traded as First Trust Nasdaq Retail until January 2022, when it adopted the global e-commerce index.sec.gov
• Cheaper options sit on the same shelf: EBIZ at 0.50% and OGIG at 0.48%, both under ISHP's 0.60%.

Full IBUY profile⁠

Full ISHP profile⁠