Retail e-commerce in the United States has maintained an upward trend, according to data from the Commerce Department.

First, online sales reached $ 791.7 billion in 2020, representing year-on-year growth of 32.4%, record dynamism.

On its own, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed more American consumers online, contributing an additional $ 105 billion in U.S. online revenue in 2020, according to estimates from Digital Commerce 360.

More recently, the Commerce Department announced that the estimate for U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation but not price changes, was $ 215 billion.

With this, this indicator climbed 7.7% from the fourth quarter of 2020.

Retail e-commerce

Total retail sales for the first quarter of 2021 were estimated at $ 1 trillion 581.4 billion, an increase of 7.8% from the fourth quarter of 2020.

At the same time, the estimate of e-commerce for the first quarter of 2021 increased 39.1% compared to the first quarter of 2020, while total retail sales increased 16.8% in the same period.

Consequently, e-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2021 represented 13.6% of total sales.

Other calculation

On an unadjusted basis, the estimate for US retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2021 totaled $ 196.7 billion, a decrease of 16.7% from the fourth quarter of 2020.

Meanwhile, the estimate for e-commerce for the first quarter of 2021 increased 39.0% from the first quarter of 2020, while total retail sales increased 16.2% in the same period.

Ecommerce sales in the first quarter of 2021 accounted for 13.4 percent of total sales.

According to Digital Commerce 360, the rapid growth of e-commerce in the United States during the first quarter of 2021 is likely due to consumers spending their stimulus checks and tax returns.

Additionally, with the rise in coronavirus cases in January, many consumers continued to avoid stores and shop online.