U.S. ecommerce sales in Q3 more than doubled the growth rate of total retail sales, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data. The department’s ecommerce data goes back to the year 2000.
That marks the sixth straight quarter in which U.S. ecommerce sales growth at least doubled total sales growth. Furthermore, it marks the ninth consecutive quarter in which ecommerce growth outpaced total sales growth. Before that, Q2 2021 through Q2 2022 saw U.S. year-over-year total sales growth outpace ecommerce sales as a result of loosened COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Year to date (Q1 through Q3), ecommerce penetration of total retail sales is holding steady at 22.0% for the ecommerce-addressable market, said James Risley, research data manager and senior analyst at Digital Commerce 360. In other words, 22% of total U.S. retail sales that could have been made online were ultimately completed via ecommerce in the first nine months of the year.
“Overall, ecommerce growth remains slow compared to pre-pandemic trends as shoppers shift to buying lower-cost goods online,” Risley said. “Retailers offering discounted goods, strong deals and other money-saving options are leading the growth here. Walmart and Amazon, which together draw about half of Top 1000 sales, have reported strong web sales growth this year while sellers of pricier items like Macy’s and Wayfair reported declines year to date.”
The Top 1000 Database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. Amazon and Walmart rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the database. Wayfair is No. 10, while Macy’s ranks No. 16.
How much of total U.S. retail sales came from ecommerce in Q3 2024?
The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimates that U.S. retail ecommerce sales in Q2 2024 totaled $300.1 billion. It also estimated that total U.S. retail sales reached about $1.849 trillion.
Excluding spending in segments that don’t typically sell online, that comes out to $1.303 trillion, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis. Moreover, U.S. ecommerce sales totaled about $288.78 billion in Q2, Digital Commerce 360 analysis shows.
U.S. ecommerce sales accounted for 22.2% of total retail sales in Q3, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis. That’s equal to the ecommerce sales penetration in Q1 and higher than Q2’s 21.7%.
U.S. ecommerce sales grew 7.5% year over year in Q3, Digital Commerce 360 data shows. Meanwhile, total retail sales grew 2.9% year over year.
Additionally, U.S. ecommerce sales accounted for 54.2% of total retail growth in Q3.
Ecommerce sales growth has slowed since the pandemic spike in 2020 and has not reached at least 10% year-over-year gains since Q2 of 2021 (13.9%). Since the first quarter of 2022, the highest single-quarter, year-over-year increase in ecommerce sales was 9.8% in Q4 2023.
Although growth has slowed since 2020, there has not been a year-over-year ecommerce sales decline since Q2 2009. That means online retailers have capitalized on pandemic gains without reversing the growth trend, but they have not been able to maintain the same growth rate.
While ecommerce growth has slowed since 2022, Risley said, it is due to a generally slower economy, not ecommerce struggling because people aren’t shopping online.
How is ecommerce penetration calculated?
Including all retail and food-service sales, U.S. ecommerce accounted for 16.2% of total sales in Q3 2024, according to the Commerce Department. Unadjusted figures show U.S. ecommerce sales represented 15.6% of total sales in Q3, the Commerce Department said. It estimates that total, unadjusted U.S. ecommerce sales in Q2 2024 reached $288.8 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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