Growth of retail e-commerce holiday season sales in the U.S. 2016-2021

In the United States, holiday season online retail sales grew by 32 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year. Forecasts suggested that this growth would slow down in 2021, increasing by about 14.4 percent.

The new normal in holiday shopping

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many U.S. consumers to do their holiday shopping online. A year later, although the situation once again allows for physical shopping, e-commerce is still gaining relevance. According to estimates, holiday season online retail sales in the United States were to reach new heights in 2021, amounting to 207 billion dollars. As in previous years, Cyber Monday and Black Friday would remain the most relevant holiday shopping days in 2021, expected to generate approximately 11.4 billion and 9.5 billion U.S. dollars in sales, respectively.

U.S. consumers’ unwavering buying spirit

The hard times brought on by the coronavirus did not deter U.S. consumers from indulging during the 2020 holiday season. On the contrary, the average value of online orders even surpassed that of the previous two years. In addition, general merchandise was by far the leading category for online holiday sales in the North American country, followed by fashion and consumer electronics.