E-commerce in the United States

E-commerce

E-commerce market

Since 2011 the U.S. online retail growth has accelerated and in 2017 the e-commerce represented 13% of total retail sales and 49% of the growth of the retail sector as a whole. Consumers in the US spent US$ 453.4 billion online for retail purchases in 2017, a 16% increase compared with US$ 391 billion in 2016 (data from U.S. Commerce Department). While the top two e-commerce companies - Amazon and eBay - are for the most part online-only retailers, 60% of the biggest e-commerce players are multichannel, with a majority of sales occurring in-store (Walmart, etc.). Other major online stores include Apple, Home Depot, Best Buy and Macy’s. Electronics & media is currently the leading product category in America, followed by toys, hobby & DIY. Americans are increasingly using their smartphones to browse and make purchases: it is estimated that mobile shopping represents 40.3% of total e-commerce traffic (Adobe Analytics).

Social media

Today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media, compared to 26% in 2008 (Pew Research Center, 2018). While young adults were among the earliest social media adopters, nowadays the share of users aged 50-64 has increased and is estimated to have reached 64%. Facebook is the most-widely used of the major social media platforms across all type of age groups, with 214 million users. Smaller numbers of Americans use social media such as Instagram (77.6 million), Pinterest (75 million), LinkedIn (133 million) and Twitter (67 million). YouTube is also very popular (180 million users), while instant messaging apps like WhatsApp are less common (around 20 million). For many users, social media is part of their daily routine: around 75% of Facebook users – and around 60% of Instagram users – access these platforms at least once a day.