With Pandemic Boost, eCommerce On Track To Hit $1 Trillion By 2022

With the pandemic having dramatically shifted the way U.S. citizens shop, eCommerce is expected to have its first $1 trillion year in revenue by 2022, according to the latest Adobe Digital Economy Index report.

From March 2020 through February 2021, $844 billion was spent online, the report stated.

This represents an extra boost of $183 billion for eCommerce, caused by the pandemic and the subsequent rush of people using the internet to access necessities like groceries and banking, the report stated. That number is nearly as much as what was spent during the entire holiday shopping season in November and December, which totaled $188.2 billion in 2020.

With the current growth rates, Adobe estimated eCommerce will hit around $850 billion to $930 billion this year and could hit $1 trillion next year.

Other observations in the report included the evolution of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services, with 215 percent year-over-year growth, and in addition, saw customers placing 18 percent larger orders than before the pandemic.

There was product category growth as people stayed indoors and spent 60 percent more on various home improvement products, according to the report. Meanwhile, apparel only grew 22 percent, lagging other categories as people didn’t see a need for new clothes as much when they weren’t leaving the house.

Grocery habits have changed, with the online grocery shopping models increasing by 230 percent, the report stated.

Concurrently, retailers struggled to meet demand, and “out of stock” messages appeared three times more frequently in July, according to the report. By January, those messages were still cropping up four times more than they did before the pandemic.

In addition, the highest eCommerce peak happened in the northeastern portion of the U.S., with those states collectively seeing 82 percent growth in June compared to the year before, the release stated.

The eCommerce surge has been good for blue collar jobs, with more job openings in fields like housing, warehouse work, driving and manufacturing.