Over the years, it has become impossible to imagine a world in which one cannot make purchases online. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers around the world have become increasingly less skeptical of shopping for everyday items online. In the United States, for example, it has become so common that over three-quarters of the
. Additionally, these numbers are set to increase even further in the future:
in the U.S. and worldwide are forecast to grow by nearly 11 percent between 2023 and 2027.
What and where do American consumers buy online?
Consumers in the United States can and do buy all kinds of products from a variety of retail platforms and established online marketplaces, such as
Amazon.com, eBay.com, and Walmart.com. Other retailers seemed to have gained popularity and higher consumer awareness. Shoppers expressed
positive opinions on wide variety of brands such as Fetch, Etsy, and Poshmark.
Some types of products, however, are
more frequently purchased online than others: for example, over a third of American shoppers bought clothing online more often than offline. Another three in ten preferred their shoe purchases to be done online than off. Major reasons why U.S. shoppers enjoy ordering from online stores include the ease of access to the internet, the convenience of having items delivered to their doorstep, the frequently cheaper prices, and the greater product range found across the internet.
Online returns tend to go hand in hand with online shopping and have increased in importance with e-commerce becoming a norm. Nearly four in ten shoppers in the U.S. reported that they would very likely stop buying from brands if they
got rid of their option for free returns. Most American consumers were online mildly concerned about the
effect of free returns on the environment.
Online shopping for the holidays
When it comes to the busyness of the holiday season, many shoppers opt to buy their gifts online. Since 2019, over half of U.S. shoppers have reportedly planned to do their
holiday shopping via e-commerce rather than in-stores, with close to 60 percent choosing online channels in 2022. That year, when it came to spending, Americans were also comfortable
spending most of their holiday shopping budget online as well. In 2023, Christmas is expected to be the
most e-commerce-involved holiday, with two-thirds of shoppers intending to shop online for their gifts. Alongside the traditional holidays, shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday have also greatly increased the online shopping craze during the
holiday season.
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