U.S. online spending set to hit first trillion-dollar year

The pandemic has had a long-lasting impact on consumers’ shopping behaviors and habits, significantly increasing U.S. e-commerce spending .

U.S. online spending set to hit first trillion-dollar year

The pandemic has boosted U.S. e-commerce spending by an additional $183 billion as consumers flock to online shopping to meet their daily needs, according to the latest data from Adobe's Digital Economy Index . That's almost as big as the 2020 holiday shopping season, when online spending in the U.S. totaled $188.2 billion between November and December last year, according to Adobe.

The $183 billion increase occurred in the 12-month period from March 2020 to February 2021 , during which Adobe said U.S. consumers spent a total of $844 billion online. During the 2020 calendar year , U.S. online spending totaled $813 billion, up 42% from 2019.

At the current growth rate, Adobe expects U.S. online spending to reach $850 billion to $930 billion in 2021. Adobe expects future growth to build on this , predicting that U.S. e-commerce spending will reach $1 trillion for the first time in 2022 .

Home improvement , groceries , and sporting goods saw the largest increases

In the two-month period from January to February 2021, U.S. consumers spent $121 billion online, a 34% year-on-year increase . In addition, the use of buy now, pay later increased by 15% year -on-year in the first two months of 2021 , and the orders placed by consumers using this service also increased by 18%.

Online sales of home improvement products grew 60 % year-over-year in the first two months of 2021 , with the industry's two largest companies, Home Depot and Lowes, both reporting strong sales last year. Apparel , which grew 22% year-over-year in the same period , lagged behind other major categories.

Online grocery orders increased significantly from February 1 to 22, 2021, compared to January 6 to January 26, 2020, with a year-over-year increase of 230%. Sporting goods increased by 75% during the same period .

By region, online spending in Northeastern states grew 82% year-over-year in June 2020, the highest of all regions. In the new year , February 2021 , Western states grew fastest, up 34% year-over-year. In the first two months of 2021, Maine had the highest interstate growth rate of 60%, the highest among states, while North Dakota had the lowest annual growth rate of 16%.

Grocery, medical, and pet supplies are more likely to be out of stock

Among other things, the data shows that product "out of stock" messages first peaked in July 2020, when shoppers saw three times as many out of stock items as they did in pre-pandemic times.

Out-of-stock messages remained four times higher than pre-pandemic levels in January 2021. Groceries, medical supplies and pet products were more often out of stock online than other categories in January 2021 , according to an Adobe survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers .

Buy online – pick up in store ( BOPIS ) and curbside pickup spending continued to gain momentum, increasing 67% year-over-year in February 2021. In an Adobe survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, 30% of online shoppers preferred curbside or in-store pickup over standard delivery options.

Retailers are likely to continue to increase their online offerings this year , with accounting firm BDO saying about half of retailers plan to undergo a digital transformation this year as the future of shopping shifts to digital.

USA

E-commerce

Online spending

Trillion USD