According to the latest forecasts released by eMarketer, retail and eCommerce sales in the U.S. will reach (or get within striking distance of) $5 trillion in 2016. In 2015, North American eCommerce and retail sales were worth $5.254 trillion, $4.785 trillion of which came from the U.S. alone. On a global basis, the United States represents one-fifth of the world’s retail sales en total, according to eMarketer.
Retail sales were up 3.3 percent this year over 2014, with eMarketer predicting a slight uptick to 3.5 percent. The 3-plus percent growth rate, though steady, will still likely result in the U.S. losing some of their global marketshare — and eMarketer is predicting much more aggressive growth in developing world nations.
As of 2015 — despite impressive recent gains my digital commerce methods (particularly mobile’s rapid ascension) — the vast majority of sales take place in physical stores: a little less than 93 percent, with eCommerce only accounting for about 7.1 percent of all retail sales. That number will be just scraping the 10 percent line by 2019 at 9.8 percent, according to eMarketer.
That digital commerce adoption rate does put the U.S. somewhat behind its developed world counterparts in Western Europe, where 7.5 percent of all retail transactions were conducted online in 2015. The Asia-Pacific region saw the highest adoption rate at 10.2 percent.
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