U.S. e-commerce sales reach $975 billion! Three major categories become "hot items"

According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. e-commerce sales reached $975 billion in the past year.

The size of the U.S. e-commerce market has grown significantly, doubling in just three years from $518 billion to $975 billion. If it were not for the impact of the epidemic, e-commerce would have grown at its original annualized operating rate this year, with sales of only $780 billion, $200 billion less than the current operating rate of $975 billion.

The survey found that among these online shopping items, groceries, clothing, electronic products and other categories are very popular among American consumers.

For every $5 spent by U.S. consumers , more than $1 goes through e-commerce

Although the overall scale of e-commerce has grown rapidly in the past three years , affected by the gradual recovery of the offline economy, the scale of e-commerce in the first quarter of 2022 only increased by 6.7%. Compared with the first quarter of 2021, the growth rate of e-commerce has slowed down , but the impact of e-commerce on American consumers is still obvious .

The survey shows that 14% of American consumers purchased things online in the first quarter of 2022 .

Across all retail categories (excluding restaurants, car dealerships, and gas stations ), e-commerce accounts for 21% of retail sales . That means more than $1 of every $5 spent goes through e-commerce.

In 2020, e-commerce penetration was slightly higher than this . But in 2021, as the impact of the epidemic on consumers became smaller, offline retail grew faster than e -commerce .

E-commerce's market share in total retail sales remained unchanged, affected by the fact that offline retail spending grew faster than e-commerce in 2021. It is worth noting that although e-commerce penetration as a percentage of the retail industry has declined, net e-commerce spending is still above the pre- epidemic trend line.

Analysis of popular categories for online shopping by American consumers

The overall scale of e-commerce continues to expand, relying on the growth of individual commodity categories. Surveys show that groceries, clothing and electronic products are popular categories for Americans to shop online.

Among them, the grocery category has seen the biggest change in the U.S. e-commerce category. The survey shows that in 2021, U.S. consumers' online grocery shopping increased by 7.2% to $79.2 billion. In 2020, when e-commerce grew rapidly , online grocery shopping data doubled.

Grocery spending is expected to exceed $85 billion this year , a 7% increase, according to Adobe , which analyzed more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites .

Compared to groceries, the apparel e-commerce industry has grown only modestly , increasing to $126.2 billion in 2021 , up 8% from 2020. The report predicts that online apparel shopping will grow even more modestly this year , peaking at around $130 billion.

The online shopping category that far exceeds groceries and clothing is electronics. Electronics have always been a key category for online shopping, accounting for 18% of all online shopping spending in the United States . Last year, the United States spent approximately $165 billion on online shopping on electronics , an increase of 8% from 2020 .

According to the report, American consumers spent an average of $13.6 billion on electronic products per month after the epidemic , higher than $9.9 billion before the epidemic .

Facts have proved that the impact of the epidemic on e-commerce is gradually decreasing. E-commerce is becoming an independent retail category, affecting consumers. With the improvement of e-commerce websites, consumers are gradually beginning to transfer products purchased in offline stores to online purchases.

Cross-border e-commerce market

USA