Offline retail sales growth in the U.S. outpaced online for the first time

According to data from the US Department of Commerce, in 2021, the growth rate of offline retail sales in the United States exceeded that of online sales for the first time.

The U.S. Department of Commerce released its December 2021 monthly retail trade report on February 16, and gave full-year data for 2021. The report showed that total U.S. retail sales in 2021 were $6.6 trillion, up 17.9% from the previous year. At the same time, 2021 was one of the strongest years for retail growth in U.S. history , with a growth rate more than twice the average rate of the past 30 years.

Another trend shown in the report is that offline retail sales grew faster than e-commerce for the first time , with a growth rate of 18.5%, while e-commerce sales grew by 14.2% , with sales of US$870 billion . Although this figure is still higher than the normal level before the epidemic , it is much lower than the growth rate of 31.8% in 2020. The main reason is that the relaxation of epidemic prevention restrictions in 2021 has caused consumers to start revenge consumption offline.

If we extend the time to two years, we will find that the total retail sales in the United States in 2021 will increase by 21.9% compared with 2019. During the same period , e-commerce sales increased by 50.5%. In the past 10 years, the US e-commerce market has grown more than 4 times.

In 2019, before the pandemic , e-commerce sales accounted for 10.7% of all retail sales. During the 2020 pandemic , offline consumption was restricted and e-commerce penetration increased to 13.6%. In 2021, e-commerce 's share of total retail sales fell to 13.2%.

At the same time, research institutions believe that after the epidemic , consumers' consumption psychology will change and they may be more cautious in financial spending. eMarketer predicts that by 2022, total retail sales will increase by 3%, but e-commerce sales will increase by 14.1%, returning to the average growth rate before the epidemic .

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the fastest-growing categories in U.S. e-commerce sales over the past two years have been furniture, building materials, and electronics, with cumulative sales growth of more than 200% since 2019 , and gardening equipment and supplies growth of 105 %. According to eMarketer, in 2021, clothing was one of the few e-commerce categories whose growth rate was lower than the industry average (39%) .

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