US ecommerce sales topped $1 trillion for the first time last year

Economic headwinds and a post-pandemic comedown haven’t stopped people from shopping online, according to ComScore.

Quite the opposite, in fact. According to stats published this week by audience measurement firm ComScore, 2022 was a record year for ecommerce transactions in the US, with total value exceeding $1 trillion for the very first time.

“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, digital commerce was at $705.4 billion. A year later, it hit $904.3 billion, and this year we’re over $1 trillion. That level of growth previously took four years to achieve,” noted Ian Essling, senior director of survey insights at ComScore, in a statement on Monday. “Consumers are clearly doubling down on what works best for them – seamless, convenient, online purchasing across many different verticals and product types.”

Indeed, the growth has been impressive, to say the least. From 2013 to 2016, ecommerce transaction value grew by around $129 billion. Then from 2017 to 2020 it grew by $264 billion. But the jump from 2021 to 2022 alone weighs in at a hefty $300 billion.

There is plenty of headroom for growth in future too. Morgan Stanley said last summer that globally, ecommerce sales represented 22% of total retail sales (ecommerce as well as traditional brick-and-mortar) compared to 15 percent in 2019. It predicts that it could reach 27% by 2026, which equates to transaction value of $5.4 trillion.

Meanwhile, ComScore also found that mobile is accounting for a growing share of online shopping in the US. “In Q4, the biggest spending quarter of the year, dollars spent on mobile devices in the US also grew at a higher rate than on desktop devices, 26% versus 14%,” ComScore said.

In 2022 as a whole, $387.3 billion worth of transactions were carried out on mobile devices, up from $306.6 billion in 2021. It means mobile accounted for 38.7 percent of all US ecommerce value last year.

This is broadly in line with forecasts published last June by eMarketer’s Insider Intelligence arm, which put US mcommerce sales on course to reach 40.4% of total ecommerce sales in 2024. As a proportion of overall US retail sales it is still tiny though – just 7.2%. It is expected to climb to 8.7% by 2026. So again, still lots of growth to be had.

As for what people are buying, according to ComScore, groceries and clothing were the top spending categories in the US last year, accounting for $219 billion and $175 billion respectively. Computers and peripherals came in third at $117 billion.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon is still the US’s dominant ecommerce retailer, accounting for 40.4% of sales in 2021, according to Insider Intelligence. Second-placed Walmart captured just 7.1%, while third-placed eBay’s share was a modest 4.3%.

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