Sales reached $800 billion! US e-commerce is unstoppable in 2020

U.S. e-commerce growth breaks records

According to the Department of Commerce , U.S. e-commerce sales grew 32% in 2020 to $790 billion , up from $598 billion a year earlier . E-commerce accounted for 14% of total retail sales , a significant increase from 11.3% in 2019. In 2020 alone , North American e-commerce has completed two years of growth.

Data shows that U.S. e-commerce peaked in the second quarter, with a retail share of 16.1%. However, part of the growth in e-commerce penetration was an increase in online sales, and part was a decline in overall retail spending (the denominator in the penetration calculation). By the end of the year, retail spending had recovered, so e-commerce as a percentage of retail sales declined.

The Commerce Department's retail sales data also includes sales of cars , auto parts , bars and restaurants. Excluding these, e-commerce's share of retail sales will be much higher in 2020, reaching about 20% .

Consumers ended the final quarter of 2020 with a staggering 32.1% more online spending in the U.S. than during the same period in 2019. E-commerce reached $245.28 billion in the fourth quarter , up from $185.07 billion in the same period last year .

Historically, e-commerce 's share of total retail sales has increased each year as consumers become more accustomed to purchasing online. The epidemic has acted as a catalyst, rapidly pushing forward the agenda for online consumption, causing North American e-commerce to achieve an all-time high growth rate in 2020.

Foreign media predict that the shift in purchasing behavior caused by the epidemic led to an increase of $33.31 billion in online sales in the fourth quarter . If online sales grow at the previous annual growth rate, e-commerce revenue will not reach $245.28 billion by 2022. Under normal circumstances, 2020 without the epidemic might result in consumers spending only $211.97 billion online .

Amazon accounts for nearly half of all e-commerce growth

Among them, as an excellent "class representative", Amazon was one of the biggest winners in the fourth quarter, setting a record of nearly $250 billion in e-commerce spending on the platform in the quarter . In the first two quarters affected by the epidemic (Q2 and Q3), its growth rate was close to or lower than the overall growth rate of US e-commerce. In the fourth quarter, Amazon's growth rate exceeded the entire market, and its logistics capabilities are where the company has an advantage over its main competitors.

Amazon’s revenue reached $100.83 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 , up 47.5% from $68.34 billion last year . This is almost 2.5 times the growth of the platform’s online revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019 .

This means that in the fourth quarter of 2020, Amazon's sales alone accounted for more than a third of all e-commerce spending in North America, accounting for 41.1%. During the epidemic , consumers flocked to online retailers, and Amazon's market share increased from 36.8% in the same period of 2019 to 54.5% .

In 2020, Amazon's revenue reached US$302.99 billion, a significant increase of 41.4% from US$214.22 billion in the previous year, which is more than double Amazon's 19.1% online revenue growth in 2019.

According to foreign media analysis of Ministry of Commerce data, total U.S. retail sales reached $4.04 trillion last year , up from $3.78 trillion in 2019 , an increase of 6.9% , the highest annual growth since 1999. Sales across all channels only grew by 4.0% in 2019.

In 2020 , e-commerce will account for 74.6% of total retail sales growth , the highest share of overall annual growth ever by the online industry. This proportion is also nearly 11 percentage points higher than the second-ranked year, 2008, and significantly higher than the 54.0% growth in online consumer spending in 2019. Offline sales grew by 2.1%, the same as the previous year before the epidemic .

And in 2021, this data will continue to rise. I wonder what kind of impressive results American e-commerce can deliver this year.

North America

E-commerce

Amazon

Sales