When it comes to US e-commerce and COVID-19, we’ve got 10 things you really need to know about the impact of the pandemic on online shopping from an analysis by our friends at Digital Commerce 360.
- Consumers spent $347.26 billion online with US retailers from Jan-June, up 30.1% from $266.84 billion for the same period in 2019
- Traffic on the top 2000 North American e-commerce sites jumped 18.7% collectively and 125% on average between Mar-June 2020 compared to a year ago.
- Online spending represented 18.6% of total retail sales for the first two quarters of 2020.
- $200.72 billion was spent online with US retailers in Q2, up 44.4% year over 2019.
- The top 100 retail giants like Amazon, Target, Home Depot and Walmart accounted for 80% of the collective growth in traffic and 82% of web sales by the full Top 2000.
- Retail categories with the strongest growth included office supplies (+58 %), hardware (+42%), sporting goods (+40%), electronics (+37%), housewares +(34%), food & beverage (+29%), toys & hobbies (+ 25%), and health & beauty.
- 43% of consumers say Amazon became more important, 19% relied on Amazon for next day delivery, and 13% but most of their essentials there.
- 43.7% of the 245 retailers in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 500 offer curbside pickup, up sharply from 6.9% at the end of 2019.
- 17% of consumers tried curbside pickup for the first time after the pandemic began in March and 24% have used it multiple times.
- E-commerce grew 55% to $66.3 billion in July compared with July 2019, which is a slowdown from June 2020 when online sales were up 76% to $73.0 billion year over year.
There are really only a few takeaways from this critical e-commerce data. First, consumers have changed their online shopping and retail habits forever. Second, the e-commerce share of total retail sales will continue to grow more quickly than prior to the pandemic. Finally, because of the uncertainty ahead, omnichannel retail strategies are essential for success.
Chart courtesy of Digital Commerce 360.
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