Total and ecommerce sales both increased in Q2 2025, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In Q2, U.S. ecommerce grew faster than total retail sales, but it also grew slower than in Q1 2025 and Q2 2024. Ecommerce sales grew at the slowest rate — 5.3% year over year — since Q4 2022, when they increased 3.4%. Meanwhile, total retail sales increased at the highest rate — 4.4% year over year — since Q1 2023, when they grew 5.4%.
Prior to Q1 2025, U.S. ecommerce sales growth was at least double the rate of total retail sales growth in each quarter for nearly two years. Q2 also marked the 16th consecutive quarter in which ecommerce sales grew year over year at a rate of less than 10%. They grew 13.9% in Q2 2021. Before that, ecommerce sales had only grown less than 10% year over year in a quarter once — in Q1 2019 — in data going back to 2010.
“Q2 2025 showed the continued negative effect of economic uncertainty and high prices on ecommerce growth in the United States,” said Jon Love, research data manager at Digital Commerce 360. “Total retail growth rebounded slightly, while ecommerce sales grew at a sub-6% rate for the second consecutive quarter for the first time since 2022, likely influenced by tariffs and global supply chain concerns.”
How does ecommerce growth compare to total retail sales growth?
Q2 marked the closest that ecommerce and total retail sales’ positive growth have been aside from during the tail of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Q3 2021, total retail sales had grown 10.% year over year, while ecommerce sales grew at a rate of 9.7%, as consumers capitalized on loosened pandemic restrictions and bought more products from physical stores.
Growth rates were identical in Q1 2022 (5.6% increase for each) and six percentage points apart in Q2 2022 (3.5% growth for ecommerce and 4.1% for total retail sales). The only time the growth rate has been more similar was during the Great Recession, when ecommerce sales declined 3.9% in Q2 2009 and total retail sales fell 4.4% in the same quarter.
Additionally, the Great Recession was the only time to date that U.S. ecommerce sales were negative year over year. Commerce Department data on ecommerce sales goes back to the year 2000. On top of that, U.S. ecommerce declined at a faster rate than total retail sales in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009.
And the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021 and 2022) marked the only period to date in which total retail sales grew at a faster rate than ecommerce sales.
Furthermore, the Great Recession marked the only time to date that U.S. ecommerce sales did not grow year over year.
Total U.S. ecommerce sales in Q2
In Q2, U.S. ecommerce sales reached $292.93 billion, according to unadjusted Commerce Department data.
That’s an increase both from Q1 2025 and Q2 2024. As was the case in Q1, growth is still the trend, even if the pace is slower than in previous quarters.
When the Commerce Department adjusted for seasonal variation — but not price changes — it found that Q2 ecommerce sales reached $304.2 billion. That’s 1.4% growth over Q1.
Based on unadjusted Commerce Department numbers, Digital Commerce 360 analysis showed that ecommerce represented 22.0% of total U.S. retail sales in Q2. Historically, Q2 has the lowest ecommerce penetration of the year. That has been the case each year except in 2020 and 2021 (during the COVID-19 pandemic) and in 2008 (during the Great Recession).
Total U.S. retail sales reached $1.865 trillion in Q2. That compares to $1.332 trillion in core retail sales, or those excluding motor vehicle and fuel sales. Consumers typically do not make online purchases for those categories, so Digital Commerce 360 compares ecommerce sales to those.
Core retail sales increased compared to both Q1 2025 (when they were $1.212 trillion) and Q2 2024 ($1.276 trillion). Even factoring in exclusions, U.S. consumers spent over $1 trillion more in physical stores in Q2 than online, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis.
How is ecommerce penetration calculated?
Including all retail and food-service sales, U.S. ecommerce accounted for 16.3% of total sales in Q2 2025, according to the Commerce Department. Unadjusted figures show U.S. ecommerce sales represented 15.5% of total sales in Q2, the Commerce Department said. It estimates that total, unadjusted U.S. ecommerce sales in Q2 2025 reached $292.2 billion.
Digital Commerce 360 studies non-seasonally adjusted commerce department data and excludes spending in segments that don’t typically sell online. These segments include:
- Restaurants
- Bars
- Automobile dealers
- Gas stations
- Fuel dealers
U.S. ecommerce penetration reflects the share of dollars consumers could potentially spend online.
The Commerce Department defines ecommerce sales as the sales of goods and services where an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sales are negotiated over:
- Internet
- Extranet
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network
- Electronic mail
- Other online system
Payment may or may not be made online. The Commerce Department publishes estimates it adjusts for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.
Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Here’s last quarter’s update on U.S. ecommerce sales.
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