US e-commerce sales increase 2% in Q4, 14.3% over last year

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Feb 22, 2017

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced on Friday that US retail e-commerce sales increased 1.9% to $102.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016 over the third quarter of 2016. Fourth quarter e-commerce sales increased 14.3% over the fourth quarter of 2015 and accounted for 8.3% of total sales in the quarter.

 
Total e-commerce sales for 2016 increased 15.1% to $394.9 billion and accounted for 8.1% of total sales for the year.
 
Total retail sales for the fourth quarter were estimated at $1,235.5 billion, an increase of 1.9% from the third quarter of 2016 and increased 4.1% over the previous year’s comparable period. In addition, total retail sales increased 2.9% from 2015.

Holiday shopping may have led the fourth quarter 2016 e-commerce performance. Shopping deals kicked off as early as Thanksgiving in 2016, as opposed to on Cyber Monday in previous years.
 
E-commerce contributed to many retailers’ shopping woes over the holiday season, with comparable store sales falling in holiday 2016 for many retailers when compared to the prior year.