The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has released the estimate of US retail ecommerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2013. Here are the quarterly estimated statistics adjusted for seasonal variation:
- An increase of 16.0 percent (+/- 3.7%) over the fourth quarter of 2012
- An increase of 3.4 percent (+/- 1.6%) over the third quarter of 2013
- Ecommerce sales in the fourth quarter of 2013 accounted for 6.0 percent of total sales.
Total ecommerce sales for 2013 were estimated at $263.3 billion which is an increase of 16.9% (+/-4.9%) from 2012. Compare this to total retail sales which increased 4.2 percent (+/-1.6%) from 2012 and it shows that ecommerce is growing four times as much compared to retail sales. Overall, ecommerce sales accounted for 5.8 percent of total sales in 2013, compared to 5.2 percent of total sales in 2012.
Source: Department of Commerce
With ecommerce sales being just 5.8% of total retail sales, the growth should continue well into the future especially with the ramp up from mobile devices. Using the doubling rule, and a yearly growth rate of 16% then total ecommerce sales should reach around $500 billion around 2020 in 4.5 years. Not bad.
Do you think the growth rate will maintain its course in 2014?