U.S. online sales to reach $200 billion during peak season

According to market research, the growth rate of online sales in the United States slowed down during the 2021 holiday season , but still increased significantly.

According to an analysis by market research firm Forrester, after achieving explosive growth of 30% in 2020 , online holiday sales in the United States will increase by 10% year-on-year in 2021 to nearly US$200 billion.

Forrester predicts that online holiday sales in the United States in 2021 will be $ 60 billion higher than 2019 (US$139 billion) before the outbreak , an increase of 43%. Supply chain issues, the recovery of offline shopping, and spending on restaurants and travel are expected to shift some consumer spending away from online shopping. However, online shopping habits formed during the epidemic will create more online sales for this year 's holiday .

Supply chain issues have plagued many sellers and manufacturers during the pandemic. Forrester predicts that even after the holiday season, supply chain issues will continue to exist in 2022, and increased shipping costs and investments will force sellers to raise product prices, otherwise profits will be affected .

Affected by the epidemic and supply chain, many platforms started promotional activities in advance this year, but the discounts were significantly less than in the past few years. Forrester predicts that this situation will continue in the next few years, and early promotional activities will become the norm .

Coincidentally, in October 2021, Adobe released an online holiday spending forecast that was very similar to Forrester's forecast : Adobe predicts that U.S. online holiday sales will reach $207 billion between November 1 and December 31, 2021 , a year-on-year increase of 10% .

Adobe's analysis is also consistent with Forrester's data : supply chain factors are pushing up online prices. Adobe expects that the average U.S. consumer will pay 9% more during Cyber ​​Week 2021 compared to the previous holiday season. According to Adobe, this is due to a combination of inflation and smaller online discounts .

According to the National Retail Federation, online and other non-physical store sales in the United States increased by 15.1% year-on-year in November. The fastest growing sales were: apparel ( up 35.3% year-on-year ), sporting goods ( up 22.1% year-on-year ), furniture and household goods ( up 18.6% year-on-year ), electronics and appliances ( up 17.7% year-on-year ).

Peak Season

USA

holiday