Record levels but slower growth. The United States Department of Commerce has reported a ecommerce sales volume of 1.02 trillion of dollars. For the first time since 2009, the ecommerce sales in the US country they break the billion barrier, a value that, according to the forecasts compiled by MarketplacePulsewas not expected until 2024.
However, despite the records, growth in the United States has slowed and, for the first time since 2009, it is forecast single digit growth of 9% for this 2022. Growth in the fourth quarter in particular will slow down, despite the fact that ecommerce in the country reached double-digit growth rates of 10.8% in the third quarter for the first time since the second quarter of last year 2021.
The growth figures are the result of a comparison with the historical boom of the years of the Covid-19 pandemic and must therefore be considered in context. The coronavirus pandemic has created an exceptional socioeconomic situation that many experts consider unique in this way. However the ecommerce continues on the road to success and has long been established as an integral part of consumer buying behavior.
The US consumer spending it is 25% higher than projected in recent years. If there had not been a pandemic and e-commerce had not experienced the growth expected by experts (between 14 and 15% per year), the volume would have been 815,000 million dollars, 200,000 million dollars less than what is currently reported .
Another noteworthy fact is that retail as a whole has experienced higher growth than online retail. In fact, in the third quarter, lTotal retail sales in the US have registered 7,000 million dollars.
Therefore, despite the fact that ecommerce continues to be above the trend line, ecommerce penetration has returned to the pre-pandemic trend. In the last quarter, 14.1% of consumer spending occurred online. Excluding categories that do not normally compete with e-commerce – restaurants, car dealerships and gas stations -, ecommerce represented 21% of retail.