U.S. nonstore sales growth slowed in October but still remained at highly elevated levels as this year’s postponed Amazon Prime Day sales event and related online promotions from other retailers gave ecommerce a boost, new U.S. Department of Commerce data shows.

Last month, consumer spending through nonstore channels spiked 26.9% over October 2019, according to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of the Commerce Department’s advance monthly figures released Tuesday. Numbers exclude estimated fuel sales. That’s the highest year-over-year growth for the month of October since at least 1992—the first year for which the agency published data—and more than 7 percentage points higher than the No. 2 showing, which came in October 2000. The increase in October 2020 is also a significantly higher rate than the 16.2% growth registered in October 2019.

It also marks the third-highest year-over-year jump of any month dating back to 1992, behind June 2020 and an upwardly revised September 2020, which both surpassed 30.0%. The top four monthly year-over-year growth rates ever recorded all fell during 2020, a year marked by seismic shifts in buying behavior as consumers have skipped store visits and shopped online while the coronavirus continues to ravage the country.

The Commerce Department’s nonstore sales—which are mainly online but include other sales such as orders through call centers, catalogs, door-to-door visits and vending machines—don’t align perfectly with spending captured in the pure ecommerce figures that the agency releases quarterly. But the data is an early indicator of trends in the online sector. Digital Commerce 360 analyzes non-seasonally adjusted Commerce Department numbers.

Prime Day boosts October nonstore sales

Amazon.com Inc.’s decision to postpone its popular annual promotional event from July to mid-October this year due to the pandemic pushed the sizable bump in digital revenue from the dog days of summer into Q4, anchoring October’s nonstore performance. During the 48-hour Prime Day sale, consumers purchased $10.40 billion on goods on Amazon.com, up 45.2% from the same sales event in July 2019, Digital Commerce 360 estimates.

Non-Amazon retailers took advantage of the influx of online shopping during Prime Day, with more than half of the top 100 North American ecommerce sites offering competing widespread sales, according to an analysis of site visits conducted by Digital Commerce 360 researchers on Oct. 13. Nearly a quarter—24%—of retail sites also displayed holiday messaging to nudge consumers to start peak season shopping early.

Unsurprisingly, non-Amazon retailers increased U.S. online sales by an average of 71% during Prime Day compared with the July 2019 promotional event, according to data from software provider Salesforce.com Inc. The firm aggregates data from the activity of more than 1 billion global shoppers flowing through its Commerce Cloud platform and extrapolates its clients’ findings to the broader retail industry.

Total sales growth slows but remains elevated

October gains were led by online sales. Growth in the nonstore channel accounted for more than half—52.4%—of all retail growth for the month after representing less than half—47.6%—of total retail gains in September, when in-store sales had a big rebound.

Total retail sales through all channels for Digital Commerce 360-defined segments increased for the sixth straight month after taking a nosedive in April, when most stores were closed. Year-over-year growth reached a record 10.6% in October—the highest-ever recorded rate for the month of October as well as the third-highest growth for any month of the nearly three decades for which data is available.

October’s spending gains in total sales was a slowdown from September’s 13.0% year-over-year growth but still a remarkably high rate. It’s more than double the 4.5% growth registered in October 2019.

Digital Commerce 360’s calculation of total retail sales—which excludes sales in segments that don’t typically sell online such as restaurants, bars, automobile dealers, gas stations and fuel dealers—differs from overall Commerce Department data as many omitted categories are among those hardest hit during the coronavirus.

“October retail sales remained on track despite the pandemic continuing to affect households and businesses,” says Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation. “The steady expansion of retail sales is good news against the background of these unusual economic circumstances and climbing virus cases in recent weeks.”

While some early holiday shopping appeared to have supported October’s increase in sales, the rise in COVID-19 cases continues to factor into consumer sentiment and spending, he says.

“There could be retrenchment if we cannot thwart this latest wave,” Kleinhenz says. “Nonetheless, the October results suggest so far, so good.”