E-commerce sales continued to grow in the U.S. in 2021 and into 2022 as the effects of the pandemic waned, but not at the torrid pace of 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
For the first quarter of 2022 the Commerce Department estimated that e-commerce sales totaled about $250 billion, up three percent from the previous quarter and up 11 percent on a year-over-year basis. With total retail sales for Q1 reaching nearly $1.75 billion, e-commerce accounted for a little more than 14 percent.
During Covid-driven lockdowns in the second half of 2020, e-commerce’s share of total retail sales rose to an all-time high of nearly 17 percent. That share has fallen back slightly as people returned to stores throughout 2021, but remains higher than the pre-pandemic record high of around 12 percent of total retail sales.
