E-commerce in the US
As has happened in most countries, e-commerce has grown as never before in the wake of the pandemic. In the case of the US, the third most populous country in the world with 332 million inhabitants, after India and China, more than 79% of Internet users now purchase products or services over the Internet. The revenue generated by this type of transaction reached 670 billion US dollars and is estimated to be around 1.1 trillion US dollars in 2028, according to Statista . In this article, we learn a little more about the profile of the American consumer and which are the undisputed kings of e-commerce in the US.
Amazon leads the ranking of online sales
According to the same statistics portal, in April 2023, Amazon was the leading marketplace in the United States by a wide margin. The online retail giant accounted for 58.03% of the desktop traffic recorded in the marketplace category in the US.
The top 10 is followed by Home Depot, the hardware and DIY retailer par excellence; Lowe's, dedicated to home, construction and DIY products; Best Buy, a company specialising in technology and electronics products; Wayfair, an online home and decor shop; and, finally, Costco, the hypermarket chain that sells wholesale products at lower prices.
US online consumer profile
85% of Americans own a smartphone, up from 35% in 2011. Another noteworthy fact is that social networks are used by an increasing percentage (72%), which explains the important role they play both in digital advertising and in their development as true marketplaces. Not only is it the device most used by the population when shopping online, but in 2023 the average value of purchases processed through a mobile device increased by more than 28 dollars, reaching for the first time more than 125 dollars. This data has had a positive impact on the retail market. In fact, 42% of total reported e-commerce revenue in the country came from mobile sales.
On the other hand, if we talk about which are the most demanded categories, fashion and accessories are at the top, followed by furniture and household appliances. Although categories such as books, music, computers and consumer electronics do not appear in this ranking, online sales for these types of products are very important (69.1% and 53.2% of sales, respectively), according to the ICEX report on e-commerce in the US.
As far as the food and beverage, health and beauty category is concerned, until now they have not had a remarkable relevance, however, they have been the ones that have grown the most since 2021, driven by the coronavirus and the irruption of Amazon Fresh.
Regarding the means of payment chosen by Americans, credit and debit cards and wallets are the most used, accounting for 90% of online transactions. In addition, another fact that can be extracted from the Icex report cited above is that the US ranks second in the world in terms of average per capita spending on the Internet, with 3,033 euros, behind the United Kingdom.
Challenges
The rapid growth of e-commerce has also created new challenges for freight forwarding, logistics and distribution companies:
- Increasing demand: Americans have increased their spending on online shopping, straining the capacity of logistics companies who must meet this increased demand for last-mile delivery.
- Immediacy and speed: Another challenge they face is the ever-shortening delivery times. US consumers want to receive their orders immediately, quickly and efficiently.
- Increased shipping complexity. The transport of online orders is becoming increasingly complex and challenging, having to respond to sustainability parameters in the face of an increasingly environmentally conscious consumer.
Technological advances such as the Artificial Intelligence will undoubtedly help to address these challenges and will influence the future of e-commerce, not only in the US, but in the rest of the world.