The pandemic has accelerated ecommerce growth in the U.S. this year, with online sales reaching a level not previously expected until 2022, according to a new analysis by eMarketer. They report that U.S. ecommerce sales will reach $794.50 billion this year, up 32.4 percent year-over-year. That’s a much higher growth rate than the 18.0 percent predicted in our Q2 forecast, as consumers continue to avoid stores and opt for online shopping amid the pandemic.

“We’ve seen ecommerce accelerate in ways that didn’t seem possible last spring, given the extent of the economic crisis,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “While much of the shift has been led by essential categories like grocery, there has been surprising strength in discretionary categories like consumer electronics and home furnishings that benefited from pandemic-driven lifestyle needs.”

eMarketer predicts that ecommerce sales will reach 14.4 percent of all U.S. retail spending this year and 19.2 percent by 2024. When excluding gas and auto sales (categories sold almost exclusively offline), ecommerce penetration jumps to 20.6 percent.

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