Deepstory Research

E-Commerce Share of US Retail

Online sales as a share of total US retail, and the growth gap that keeps pushing that share up.

Curated snapshot Last updated: Aug 14, 2026 6 data points
E-commerce share of US retail sales

E-commerce share of US retail sales

E-commerce as a % of total US retail sales, first quarter of each year.

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E-commerce vs total retail growth, Q1 2026

E-commerce vs total retail growth, Q1 2026

Year-over-year sales growth, %.

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Data table

E-Commerce Share of US Retail — full data table
pct period series source_ref value_basis segment
11.8 Q1 2020 ecom_share census-ecommerce E-commerce 11.8% of total US retail sales, Q1 2020
13.6 Q1 2021 ecom_share census-ecommerce E-commerce 13.6% of total US retail sales, Q1 2021
16.4 Q3 2025 ecom_share fred-ecompctsa E-commerce 16.4% of total US retail sales, Q3 2025
16.9 Q1 2026 ecom_share census-ecommerce E-commerce 16.9% of total US retail sales, Q1 2026
9.8 growth_gap census-ecommerce E-commerce sales +9.8% YoY, Q1 2026 E-commerce

1 more row + CSV download

The full 6-row dataset, one-click CSV export, and the AI-ready context file are free with an account. Prefer to verify it yourself? The full methodology and sources are published below.

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Methodology & sources

Last updated: Aug 14, 2026

Methodology

Figures are US Census Bureau quarterly retail e-commerce estimates, expressed as a percentage of total retail sales. Census e-commerce excludes travel, ticketing and financial services, so the number is lower than "online consumer spending" measures that include them. Quarters are compared like-for-like (Q1 to Q1) to avoid the large Q4 holiday seasonality in the unadjusted series. CAVEAT: Q1 2022 through Q1 2025 are published by Census but were not retrieved in this run, so the line has a gap rather than an interpolation. It will be filled on the next refresh. Re-verified 2026-08-10.

Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.

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