The recovery in e-commerce was substantial, at least in the fourth quarter.
And after being stagnant for the past few years, e-commerce is gaining momentum again when measured as a percentage of overall retail sales.
Total retail sales continue to grow, increasing 2.1% to $7.2 trillion in 2023, as measured through Census Bureau data and PYMNTS Intelligence analysis.
We point out that there is a change here. Inflation was the main driver of retail sales growth until 2020, but the impact of inflation has been relatively modest over the past year.In fact, heading into the second half of the year, depending on where you look, the impact of inflation, especially on retail products, was decreasing… So what we can read here is that people are buying goods. about it more — Your basket is full.
And in the e-commerce part of the pie, total digital sales grew faster than the pie as a whole, reaching $1.1 trillion in 2023, up 7.6% year over year. Its share in total retail sales rose from 14.7% to 15.4% in 2022.
The chart below shows that e-commerce is seeing new tailwinds after it overcomes the massive digital shift related to the pandemic, the economy reopens, takes a breather, and everyone returns to brick-and-mortar environments. I am.
Its staying power during this time and in a post-pandemic world is a testament to the fact that merchants are thinking about where, how, and when to engage with consumers on mobile devices. Digital searches online can ultimately lead to digital payments in the aisle. A trip to a store could lead to commerce where products are delivered to your door with just a few clicks.
Separate PYMNTS Intelligence data collected in collaboration with Visa reveals that commercial lines are becoming increasingly blurred. In the latest iteration, Click and Mortar™ The report is a global study and found that 33% of consumers shop in stores without digital assistance. This means that the majority of consumers (two-thirds) use technology as an aid and enabler across their commerce transactions.
According to the data, “remote shoppers” are 26% of the total consumer base. Another 10% of consumers buy online and pick up in-store. 25% of in-store shoppers used digital assistance.
Recent earnings commentary and data from Walmart and others detailed here show double-digit growth in e-commerce sales.of December quarter shows: Overall e-commerce sales increased by 23% in the quarter, the number of online marketplace sellers increased by 20%, and in-store pickup and delivery (where payments were made online) also increased by double digits. This is further evidence of tailwinds for e-commerce. .
Amazon's own The results shown here are It represents an acceleration in e-commerce, with 8% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, higher than the 2% growth in the year-ago quarter.
