US digital commerce has passed a new milestone. For 2022, total digital commerce dollars excluding Travel surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, reaching $1.09 trillion. So reports Comscore in its latest State of Digital Commerce report [download page].
This represents a 21% hike over the 2021 total of $904.3 billion, with Q4 2022 also setting a new record as the highest quarter ever for online retail, at $332.2 billion. That’s more than 18% higher than the previous mark of $281.3 billion set in Q4 2021.
Mobile continues to outpace desktop in growth rates, leading to a higher share of digital retail commerce. During Q4, mobile commerce registered a 26.3% year-over-year growth rate, about double the rate recorded by desktop commerce (+13.5%). This pushed mobile spending to $127.5 billion and mobile’s share of total e-commerce spending to 38.4%, its highest level yet, with the previous best being 35.9% in Q4 2021.
Mobile’s role is pronounced in some key categories. Some 88% of event ticket spend online occurred via mobile devices during the fourth quarter, with this particular category emerging as one of the key growth stories, with an overall Q4 year-over-year growth rate of 68%.
Mobile also has an above-average share (41% share) of spending in the Grocery/Baby/Pet category. This area posted a 59% year-over-year growth rate during Q4 and was the top grossing digital commerce category for 2022 as a whole, at $219 billion. In other words, more than one-fifth of all digital commerce spend last year was for the online grocery category.
The next-largest e-commerce category last year was Apparel & Accessories, at $175 billion in total spend. Mobile spending on grocery has outpaced apparel since Q1 2020, per the report, and while the gap narrowed in Q4 2021, it widened during 2022.
The only other category to exceed the $100 billion mark in overall e-commerce spending last year was Computers & Peripherals, at $117 billion.
Finally, the fastest-growing digital commerce categories for 2022 as a whole were Event Tickets (+75%), Digital Content (+60%), Apparel & Accessories (+37%), Video Games & Accessories (+31%) and Home and Garden (25%).
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