Ecommerce Trends for 2021: Amazon Will Rule Again

• Pandemic-driven ecommerce demand drove sales growth across all product categories.
• Amazon also generates over one-quarter of US online sales for all categories other than auto/parts.

After a record 44.1% increase in sales during 2020, Amazon’s US ecommerce sales are expected to grow by 15.3% this fiscal year to $367.19 Billion.

Ecommerce sales at many of Amazon’s competitors—including Walmart and Target—are growing faster, but Amazon’s sales are still growing faster than the overall market. The company’s share of US online sales will grow from 39.8% to 40.4% in 2020 to a gain of 0.6%. This growth will outpace any other company’s this year.

Amazon eCommerce Statistics – What’s Changed?

• Amazon sales exceeded our pre-pandemic predictions for 2020. Prior to the pandemic we had estimated that Amazon’s US sales would increase 17.2% to $260.86 Billion in 2020. Instead, they grew 44.1% and reached $318.41 Billion.
• In keeping with overall Trends in ecommerceIn every category, Amazon’s sales growth in the USA was greater than anticipated for 2020. Food/beverage experienced the greatest upward revisions in 2020. This was compared with our prepandemic estimate which was 22.7%. “Other”—driven by increased demand for home improvement products—grew 58.0%, compared with our pre-pandemic estimate of 18.7%.

Amazon’s US ecommerce sales are dominated by two verticals: music/video (83.2%) and books/music/video (50.2%)

This year, the ecommerce giant will receive more that 45% of US ecommerce revenues in three additional categories: toys/hobby (46.0%) and office equipment/supplies (55.6%).

Another way to look at it is that Amazon will receive more US ecommerce dollars than the quarter-million for any category other than auto/parts.

Amazon’s largest sales source is computer/consumer electronics. This will account for more than one quarter (26.6%) of all its US sales. Amazon’s second largest sales source in the US is apparel/accessories, accounting for 16% of total US ecommerce sales by 2021.

Amazon’s fastest-growing category will be food/beverage (24.7%), as digital grocery continues its growth in a low-base segment. In 2021, Amazon’s US ecommerce sales will be just 3.7%. Apparel/accessories, already Amazon’s second-largest sales category, will also be its second-fastest-growing category, at 21.4% in 2021.

Amazon eCommerce Statistics – What’s to Expect:

• It will again surpass total sales expectations by 2021. Amazon was predicted to grow 15.9% to $302.36 Billion in the year before the pandemic. We expect Amazon to grow 15.3% to $367.19Billion this year, an upward revision of over $64 billion.

(Note – We didn’t forecast Amazon’s category sales for 2021 prior to the pandemic.

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This article was originally published by eMarketer.