America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers

Share of Online Retail Sales Soaring

A well-documented change in the retail sector in the past 20 years is the evolution from mostly brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce sales.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, e-commerce as a percent of total retail sales grew from 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 1999 to 16.1% in the second quarter of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Upcoming national retail events such as Black Friday (traditional stores) and Cyber Monday (e-commerce) illustrate the impact these events have on the retail sector.

The Census Bureau recognizes the importance of the growing e-commerce portion of the retail economy and continues to introduce new data products to supplement the quarterly retail e-commerce report and the Annual E-Stats report.

Continue reading about Census Bureau retail data products, such as:

• the Advance Monthly Retail and Food Services Sales Report and Monthly Retail Trade Report
• the Quarterly E-Commerce Report, and
• the Annual Retail Trade Survey.

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