eCommerce Growth Rate Update

In the past year, e-commerce business growth has accounted for 16% of total retail sales. This represents a 14.9% growth in US e-commerce sales in 2019 alone. To put a figure to it, this represents over $601 billion spent in e-commerce stores. Not only is this is a recurring rise, but it’s also a bigger rise than seen in 2018. 2019 has been the most successful year in e-commerce business growth yet.

eCommerce as a Part of Retail

E-commerce represents a growing proportion of overall total retail sales. When comparing retail businesses and their online equivalent, digital sales represent a growing part of the whole. In 2017, e-commerce sales were 13.2% of all retail. In 2018, they were 14.4%. At the end of 2019, they are 16%. In fact, 2019 saw the biggest single annual percentage point growth since 2000.

How US eCommerce is Growing

From 2010, the rate of growth in e-commerce, in general, has remained relatively steady. Then, it was roughly 17%. In 2014, it had dropped to around 15%. In 2017, it rose to grow at a rate of 16% again. It has risen and dropped within that range throughout the years. However, when compared to the growth of the total retail market, this is a significant increase in growth. From 2010 to 2019, total retail growth has fluctuated between 2% and 5%. As such, e-commerce sees levels of growth not seen in the total retail sales figures.

Quarterly eCommerce Spending

US e-commerce business growth lead to sales of $187.25 billion in fourth-quarter spending. This was a rise from the $160.89 billion in 2018. This represents a growth of roughly 16.4%. This is in part due to the decline in growth seen in 2018, the lowest growth rate since 2008. Q4 saw the highest rate of growth out of all quarters in 2019. By comparison, e-commerce only increased by 11.6% in Q1 sales and 13.6% in Q2 sales. Q4 led to e-commerce business growth levels of 18%, the highest rate yet recorded

The Role of Amazon in eCommerce Business Growth

Of many of the stats mentioned above, Amazon accounts for the lion’s share. It is the number 1 grossing e-commerce business, dominating the market at an accelerating pace. In 2018, Amazon saw transactions totaling to $177 billion. In 2019, this rose to nearly $222 billion. This is a rate of growth of 25.3%. That’s a significantly higher rate of growth than general e-commerce sales. As a result, Amazon accounted for a third of all e-commerce sales in the US in 2019.

As the stats above show, e-commerce is here to stay. While growth slowed in 2018, it picked up the pace in 2019. Not only was this year the highest-grossing year in e-commerce. It was also the best year for e-commerce business growth overall. While Amazon continues to exert growing dominance over the market, there are still retail gains across the whole market.