Amazon sales trends in 2021: Computers/electronics, apparel lead

eMarketer predicts that Amazon's e-commerce sales in the United States will grow 15.3% this year to $367.19 billion, an increase of about $64 billion from the forecast before the outbreak.

Image source: eMarketer

From the data, although the e-commerce sales of many of Amazon's competitors (such as Walmart and Target) are growing faster, Amazon's sales are still growing faster than the overall market. In 2021, Amazon's share of the US e-commerce market will increase by 0.6 percentage points, from 39.8% in 2020 to 40.4% in 2021. This growth will exceed that of any other company this year.

"In 2020, Amazon's sales growth in every category in the United States was higher than expected." eMarkete said that the category with the largest change in growth rate compared to expectations was food/beverage, which grew 78.5% in 2020, while eMarketer's pre-epidemic growth rate was 22.7%. The "other" category grew 58.0%, mainly due to the increase in demand for home improvement products, and the previous estimated growth value was 18.7%.

In 2021, Amazon's sales in two vertical markets will exceed half of their sales in the US e-commerce market: books/music/videos will account for 83.2% of US e-commerce sales; computers/consumer electronics will account for 50.2%.

In addition to this, Amazon will have sales in three other categories that will account for more than 45% of the US e-commerce market this year , including "Other" (48.2%), Toys/Hobbies (46.0%), and Office Equipment/Supplies (45.6%).

Viewed from another perspective, Amazon’s sales in all categories except auto/parts will account for more than a quarter of the U.S. e-commerce market.

The category that contributes the most sales to Amazon is computers /consumer electronics, which will account for more than a quarter (26.6%) of its total U.S. sales this year. Clothing/accessories follows closely behind, accounting for 16% of the U.S. apparel/accessories e-commerce market in 2021.

This year, Amazon's fastest-growing segment will be food /beverage (24.7%), but it will also be coming off a relatively low base. By 2021, food/beverage will account for only 3.7% of Amazon's US e-commerce sales. Apparel/accessories will be the next fastest-growing segment, with a 21.4% growth rate in 2021.

Judging from these data, Amazon's position in the US market is still unshakable. Except for a few niche categories, Amazon is an inevitable obstacle for any seller who wants to operate in the US market. Before the rise of new platforms, sellers can only choose to "accept it" in the face of Amazon's various "ravages".

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