Comscore, a global media measurement firm, has determined that the Internet recorded record sales in 2022, with e-commerce revenues in the United States exceeding $1 trillion for the first time.
In the company’s 2023 State of Digital Commerce Report, which analyzed online retail purchases across desktop and mobile devices, Comscore noted that the total represented a 21% increase in year-over-year online spending.
Raw sales gains were significant, but so were how they divided up. Dollars spent on mobile devices in the U.S. also reached record proportions growing at a higher rate than on desktop devices, 26% versus 14%. Mobile’s share of total digital commerce reached almost 40%, Conscore maintained.
The 2023 State of Digital Commerce report also demonstrated that:
- Online retail spending in the 2022 November/December holiday season broke $230 billion and grew by 20% year over year.
- Online grocery and apparel were the top spending categories, with $219 billion spent on grocery, baby and pet items, $175 billion on apparel and accessories, and $117 billion on computers and peripherals.
- Top growing digital commerce categories in 2022 versus 2021 were event tickets, up by 75%, digital content, up by 60%, and apparel and accessories, up by 37%.
Filling out the top five online spending categories were consumer electronics at $85 billion and furniture and appliances at $76 billion. Home and garden, up 25%, was the fifth fastest-growing spending category in 2022, following video games and accessories, up 31%.
“We’ve been measuring digital commerce trends for over two decades, including the addition of mobile in 2013,” said Ian Essling, senior director of survey insights, Comscore. “This has really given us a front-row seat to digital commerce growth over the years, as well as the increased pace of adoption during the pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, digital commerce was at $705.4 billion. A year later, it hit $904.3 billion, and this year we’re over $1 trillion. That level of growth previously took four years to achieve. Consumers are clearly doubling down on what works best for them: seamless, convenient, online purchasing across many different verticals and product types.”
