15 mind-blowing stats about online shopping to guide your 2021 e-commerce strategy

’Tis the season for online shopping – but, really, hasn’t that been the case for nearly all of this pandemic-marred year? With brick-and-mortar stores closed and shoppers quarantined at home, it’s little wonder consumers made a beeline to online, whether to buy the basics or for a little (or big) pick-me-up. And this year, shoppers increasingly turned to their smartphones and digital assistants to complete their e-commerce transactions, too.

Now the holidays are here, online spend is higher than ever, and the forecast for 2021 and beyond will continue that trend.

The stats below paint a picture of what online shopping behavior will look like in 2021:

1. Consumers spent $34.4 billion during this year’s Cyber Week – the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday – representing a 20.7 percent YoY increase. (Source: Adobe)

2. No slow down. U.S. retail e-commerce sales are forecasted to grow from this year’s expected total of $374.3 billion to $476.5 billion in 2024, a 39% increase. (Source: Statista)

3. More than 90 percent of consumers reported that their online shopping frequency has increased due to COVID-19. (Source: DealAid)

4. Cyber Monday 2020 is now the largest online shopping day in U.S. history: Consumers spent a record $10.8 billion just in that one day – $2.7 billion during retail’s “golden hours” of 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. alone – which beat last year’s $9.4 billion record (up 20.7 percent). (Source: Adobe)

5. Black Friday was the second biggest online spending day – another one for the U.S. history books. Consumers spent $9 billion online during Black Friday, up 21.6 percent from 2019. (Source: Adobe)

6. US B2B e-commerce will reach $1.8 trillion and account for 17 percent of all B2B sales in the U.S. by 2023. (Source: Forrester)

7. The top 10 U.S. e-commerce players will collectively grow their share of the overall e-comm market to 60.1 percent in 2020, up from 58.2 percent last year. Amazon will maintain its No. 1 position as it increases its market share from 37 percent in 2019 to 38 percent by year-end. (Source: eMarketer)

8. Smartphones are on track to contribute more than 50 percent of online spend by September 2022. (Source: Adobe)

9. Smart home devices will carry out more than $164 billion worth of transactions in 2025. That’s more than 630 percent growth in five years from the $22 billion expected this year. (Source: Juniper)

10. Delivery experience matters: Eighty-four percent of shoppers are unlikely to shop with a brand again after a poor delivery experience (the “last mile”), and 98.1 percent say that delivery impacts their brand loyalty. (Source: Retail TouchPoints)

11. Computers and consumer electronics are expected to account for the biggest slice of retail e-commerce sales – 22 percent, or $156.5 billion – in 2020. Apparel and accessories place second, at 19.1 percent, or $135.5. (Source: eMarketer)

12. Artificial Intelligence is working. Sixty percent of consumers report they would purchase more from a website that offered a chatbot concierge. Seventy-seven percent of consumers trust chatbots to take down name and address information, while 76 percent say they trust them to help choose products. (Source: LivePerson)

13. The cross-border B2C e-commerce market is predicted to reach $4.8 billion by 2026. (Source: Facts & Factors)

14. This year, global livestream-generated sales are expected to double to $120 billion. In fact, directly “shoppable media” — which also includes social commerce, virtual consultations and shoppable ad formats — will be the fastest-growing advertising categories for the foreseeable future. (Source: IAB)

15. Forty-four percent of consumers said they plan to support small and local retailers this holiday season, with 38 percent saying they will make a deliberate effort to do so. (Source: Adobe)