In 2015, ecommerce accounted for more than 10% of retail sales, without the sales of automobiles, fuel and foodservice. Web sales totaled USD 86.3 billion for Q1 2016, a 15.1% increase over USD 75.0 billion in Q1 2015, according to US Department of Commerce, internetretailer.com reports.
The 15.1% growth is slightly ahead of the online growth in Q4 2015 , and, along with Q3 2015’s growth of 15.1%, the highest year-over-year increase in ecommerce sales since the Q3 2014. Total retail sales for the quarter grew 3.3% on a non-adjusted basis to USD 1.117 trillion from USD 1.081 trillion, when factoring out foodservice sales and sales at restaurants and bars. Online sales accounted for 7.7% of retail sales during the Q1 2016 versus 6.9% in 2015, and ecommerce accounted for 31.8% of total retail sales growth.
When further factoring out sales of automobiles and fuel, total retail sales grew by 5.3% (USD 39.0 billion) year-over-year to USD 775.8 billion from USD 736.9 billion in 2015. Ecommerce grew by USD 11.3 billion on a non-adjusted basis, which means online sales accounted for 29.1% of retail sales growth online and offline. The Commerce Department estimates Q1 2016 web sales increased with 15.2% from USD 80.57 billion in 2015. Shoppers in the US spent USD 341.73 billion on retail purchases on the web in 2015, according to The Commerce Department, up 14.6% from 2014, a rate nearly five times as fast as the 3.1% growth in store sales.
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