Online Shopping Statistics 2026

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2026, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, was $340.2 billion, an increase of 3.8 percent (±0.4 percent) from the first quarter of 2026.

E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2026 accounted for 17.1 percent of total sales.

The second quarter 2026 e-commerce estimate increased 12.2 percent (±0.9 percent) from the second quarter of 2025 while total retail sales increased 6.7 percent (±0.5 percent) in the same period.

Total e-commerce sales for 2025 were estimated at 1,233.7 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent (±1.2%) from 2024.

E-commerce sales in 2025 accounted for 16.4 percent of total sales. E-commerce sales in 2024 accounted for 16.1 percent of total sales.

As a result, the proportion of sales made online fell from 28.9% in August 2026 to 28.8% in September 2026.

Online spending values rose by 7.4% compared with Quarter 3 2025.

From January to September 2026, China’s online retail sales of goods and services reached 15,147.1 billion yuan, up by 4.4% year on year.

Specifically, the online retail sales of goods were 9,506.0 billion yuan, up by 3.8%; among the online retail sales of goods, those of food, clothing, and daily necessities increased by 15.8%, 3.4%, and 0.8%, respectively.

Total online retailing sales were $4,703.8m in June 2025, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Net sales increased 12% to $201.9 billion in the third quarter, compared with $180.2 billion in third quarter 2025.

In 2025, while 95% of EU citizens aged between 16-74 years used the internet in the last 12 months prior to the survey, 78% bought or ordered goods or services online.

In 2015, among individuals who used the internet in the previous 12 months, the share of those who bought or ordered goods or services online was 62%.

The share of online buyers was the highest among the age group 25-34 years with 90% in 2025, 12 pp over the EU average.

With 69% and 55% the shares, the age groups 55-64 years and 65-74 years respectively, were below the EU average in 2025.

In the EU, 15% of internet users never bought or ordered goods or services online in 2025.

Among the individuals who made online purchases in 2025, 62% bought or ordered goods or services within the last 3 months before the survey, 11% between 3 and 12 months while 6% made a purchase more than a year ago.

The frequency of purchases was almost similar in the EU among individuals who bought or ordered goods or services 1 or 2 times (34%) and those who bought or ordered 3 to 5 times (33%).

In the EU, 33% of internet users subscribed to film, series or sport streaming services in 2025.

Consumers spent $257.8 billion online from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, up 6.8% year-over-year (YoY) and setting a new record for e-commerce.

Cyber Monday remained the biggest e-commerce day of the season (and year), driving $14.25 billion in online spend, up 7.1% YoY.

Record online spending this season was bolstered by a strong Cyber Week (the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday), which brought in $44.2 billion online overall, up 7.7% YoY.

Adobe expects U.S. online sales to hit $275.1 billion this holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2026), growing 6.7% year-over-year (YoY).

At 53%, the share of holiday shoppers planning to purchase gifts and other holiday items online is the lowest since 2015.

Nearly two-thirds of consumers, 64%, say they are likely to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to do most of their holiday shopping, compared with 51% five years ago.

Value goes beyond price when consumers decide where to shop, with consumers also citing quality of merchandise (51%), selection of merchandise (46%) and free shipping or shipping promotions (37%).

The holiday shopping journey favors online-only retailers and mass merchants, which are expected to capture most of shoppers’ planned spend, while online spending is expected to make up 55% of retail budgets.

Average household spend is expected to increase to US$1,654, up 4% year over year, as 79% of respondents believe higher prices are in their future.

Retailers estimate that 15.8% of their annual sales will be returned this year, totaling $849.9 billion, according to the 2025 Retail Returns Landscape report released today by the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns, a UPS company.

According to the report, an estimated 19.3% of online sales will be returned in 2025.

Those between the ages of 18 and 30 made 7.7 returns of online purchases in the last 12 months, on average, more than any other generation.

Free returns are a major draw for shoppers, with 82% citing them as a major consideration when making a purchase, up from 76% last year.

About 71% of consumers say they are less likely to shop with a retailer again after a poor experience, up from 67% in 2024.

The report found that 9% of all returns are fraudulent.

Shoppers returned less products: Returns were down 1.2% this holiday season (compared to last year).

In 2025, U.S. parcel volume saw significant growth, reaching 23.1 billion shipments, a 3.3% increase from 2024’s 22.4 billion.

With 9% growth, Amazon overtakes USPS handling a total of 6.9bn parcels.

“Others” increased volume by 127% driven by continued increase in volume from Shein and Temu.

Delivered its fastest Q3 speeds ever for Prime members, with more than 1.5 billion items arriving same-day or overnight in the quarter.

63% of the individuals who bought or ordered goods or services in 2025 reported no issue while purchasing online.

The most often reported issues was ’speed delivery slower than expected’, declared by 20% of the individuals.

However, if we ignore the “just browsing” segment, and instead look at the remaining reasons for abandonments we get the following distribution: 40 % Extra costs too high (shipping, tax, fees)

In fact, our latest quantitative study of reasons for abandonment found that 42% of US online shoppers have abandoned a cart because “I was just browsing / not ready to buy” .

September recorded a record large MAU base, as 64% of all U.S. households bought groceries online during the month, whether that was for a single item or a basket of products.

Top-line: While online grocery momentum slowed slightly for September compared to July and August, it remained strong as monthly eGrocery sales grew over 16% versus last year, according to the Brick Meets Click Grocery Shopping Survey fielded September 28 – 30, 2026.

Walmart: The percent of Grocery MAUs that also bought online from Walmart during the same month continued to climb, expanding 420 bps versus a year ago to 29%.

Other categories with notable growth this season included cosmetics ($8.4 billion, up 9.3% YoY), groceries ($23.7 billion, up 10.2% YoY), sporting goods ($8.4 billion, up 7.7% YoY), and toys ($8.8 billion, up 7.8% YoY).

This season, traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools (shoppers clicking on a link to a retail site) increased by 693.4% compared to the year prior.

Generative AI is a holiday-shopper helper, with 39% of respondents noting that it’s their primary tool for at least one holiday shopping task

Social media is the standout this season, with its share of revenue coming in at 4.6%, up a significant 40.3% YoY (2024: 3.3% share, up 5.4% YoY).

Usage of the flexible payment method hit an all-time high this holiday season, contributing $20 billion in online spend, up 9.8% YoY and representing $1.8 billion more than the last season.

Curbside pickup: The fulfillment method was used in 17.1% of online orders this holiday season, for retailers that offer the service (down from 17.5% in 2024).

GMV reached $36.6 billion (+18% YoY), revenue $1.042 billion (+27% YoY), transaction margin dollars $446 million (+42% YoY), and adjusted operating income $91 million (+214% YoY).

Active consumers: 120 million (+8% YoY)