US Retail E-Commerce Growth Continues in Q2 2019

September 26, 2019

E-commerce sales growth in the US shows little signs of leveling off as, once again in Q2 2019, online sales have increased by double-digits. Retail e-commerce sales in the US reached an estimated $146.20 billion in Q2 2019, accounting for 10.7% of total retail sales (which are estimated at $1.36 trillion), per the most recent figures released by the US Department of Commerce.

Continuing with its steady growth, retail e-commerce sales climbed by 13.3% year-over-year (y-o-y), up from $120.04 billion in Q2 2018 to reach the projected $146.20 billion in Q2 2019.

While e-commerce currently only accounts for just more than one-tenth of total retail sales in the US, it is slowly, but surely, gaining share. Indeed, e-commerce accounted for 9.8% of retail sales in Q2 2018 and, at the end of Q2 2019, its share of retail sales had increased by nearly an entire percentage point. This could be, in part, because as consumers are becoming more comfortable with purchasing online, they are more apt to purchase larger ticket items over the internet.

International E-Commerce on the Rise

The growth of e-commerce is, of course, not exclusive to the US and as online shopping opens up borders, shoppers around the world are benefiting from the ability to shop for international products online. A survey by Rakuten Marketing found that almost 6 in 10 (58% of) global consumers would make more international purchases online if they were familiar with the brands.

The willingness to shop from another country differs across the 7 countries surveyed, with virtually all consumers (99%) in Singapore having purchased from another country and 61% saying they will buy more online next year. That compares with the UK, where 43% of shoppers will increase their online purchases in the coming year.

Brand loyalty also plays a part when consumers are considering a purchase. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the consumers surveyed say they only consider 1 to 2 brands when purchasing online, which is actually fewer than the 2 to 4 brands which US consumers say they consider before making a purchase.

About the Data: US Department of Commerce data is based on a stratified simple random sampling method was used to select approximately 10,800 retail firms excluding food services whose sales are then weighted and benchmarked to represent the complete universe of over two million retail firms.

Rakuten Marketing data is based on a survey of 3,570 consumers from the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United States.

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