E-Commerce Sales Settle as Stores Open, BOPIS Still Strong

E-commerce sales jumped 42 percent year-over-year in August, reaching $63 billion, according to the latest Adobe Digital Economy Index.

Compared to July, however, when e-commerce sales spiked 55 percent from the previous year, the rate that online shopping increased slowed.  

The data suggests that while e-commerce increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic, more shoppers are heading back to physical locations to make purchases as restrictions ease. The question still remains as to how much online shopping will trend downward as stores continue to open up.

“While online shopping continues to dominate, we’re now seeing a slowdown in growth as more people return to shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores and consumers curb their online spending across certain categories, like apparel,” said Vivek Pandya, senior digital insights manager at Adobe Digital Insights in a statement.

Adobe noted 27 percent of consumers said they were more comfortable shopping in stores in August than they were in July.

“While online shopping continues to dominate, we’re now seeing a slowdown in growth as more people return to shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores and consumers curb their online spending across certain categories, like apparel”

While more shoppers are heading back to stores, Buy Online/Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) is still a strong trend and usage increased 59 percent month-over-month in August and 259 percent year-over-year. 

Adobe officials said an additional $107 billion has been spent in e-commerce since March. The first eight months of 2020 saw $497 billion in online spending.