U.S. E-Commerce Sales Strengthen in Q3’24
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Online share of total sales remains high.
- Nonstore sales gains continue to moderate.
- General merchandise & electronics sales strengthen y/y.
Online retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6% in Q3’24 following 1.6% gains in both of the prior two quarters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales rose 7.4% y/y after 10.0% growth in 2023, compared to 5.7% growth in 2022. E-Commerce sales accounted for 16.2% of total retail sales last quarter compared to 15.3% last year and 14.4% in 2022. The percentage was 6.4% in 2014.
The following details of the E-Commerce data by sector are not seasonally adjusted. Sales of nonstore retailers, which accounted for 60.9% of total E-Commerce, rose 7.3% y/y in Q3, following a 15.1% y/y rise in all of 2023.
General merchandise store sales rose 17.7% y/y in Q3’24 after a 10.2% gain in 2023. Electronics & appliance store sales rose 10.7% y/y following 2.8% growth in 2023. Food & beverage store sales improved 10.4% y/y after a 4.9% y/y 2023 rise while sales of building materials & garden equipment rose 1.6% y/y last quarter after a 4.2% y/y rise last year. Sales of motor vehicles & parts rose 4.1% y/y after falling 3.2% in 2023. Miscellaneous sales, including gasoline stations, rose 8.9% y/y following a 1.9% rise in 2023.
Elsewhere, sales declined. Furniture & home furnishing sales fell 4.1% y/y last quarter after declining 16.7% in 2023, while and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument & book sales weakened 4.8% y/y after rising 0.6% y/y in 2023. Clothing & accessory store sales eased 0.4% y/y after little change in 2023. Health & personal care store sales eased 0.1% y/y last quarter after a 1.0% decline in 2023.
E-commerce sales are goods and services ordered over an internet, mobile device (M-commerce), extranet, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network, electronic mail, or other comparable online system. Payment may or may not be made online and sometimes sale & price are negotiated. Total sales estimates are adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes. They are also adjusted for trading-day differences and moving holidays.
E-Commerce sales data can be found in Haver's USECON database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
