U.S. E-Commerce Sales are Unchanged in Q1’25
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Online share of total sales remains high.
- Nonstore sales moderate.
- General merchandise, food & motor vehicle sales strengthen y/y.
Online retail sales were flat in Q1’25 following a 1.7% gain in Q4’24 and 2.3% growth in Q3’24, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales rose 5.6% (Q1/Q1) after 8.8% growth in 2024 and a 9.8% increase in 2023. E-Commerce sales accounted for 16.2% of total retail sales last quarter, steady with 2024. The percentage was 7.1% in 2015.
The following details of the E-Commerce data by sector are not seasonally adjusted. Sales of nonstore retailers, which accounted for 59.1% of total E-Commerce, rose 3.0% y/y in Q1, following an 8.2% y/y rise in all of 2024.
E-commerce sales of general merchandise store rose 16.6% y/y in Q1’25 after a 14.9% gain in 2024. Food & beverage store E-commerce sales improved 14.1% y/y after a 7.7% y/y 2024 rise while sales of motor vehicles & parts rose 13.5% y/y after falling 13.6% in 2024. Sales of building materials & garden equipment rose 5.8% y/y last quarter after a 9.3% y/y rise last year. E-commerce sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument & book sales rose 4.4% y/y after rising 0.7% y/y in 2024. Miscellaneous sales, including gasoline stations, rose 2.0% y/y following a 5.8% rise in 2024. Furniture & home furnishing sales rose 3.0% y/y last quarter after declining 1.0% in 2024.
Elsewhere, E-commerce sales declined. Clothing & accessory store sales fell 4.8% y/y after rising 0.5% y/y in 2024. Health & personal care store sales also weakened 4.8% y/y last quarter after a 6.5% rise in 2024.
E-commerce sales are goods and services ordered over an internet, mobile device (M-commerce), extranet, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network, electronic mail, or other comparable online system. Payment may or may not be made online and sometimes sale & price are negotiated. Total sales estimates are adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes. They are also adjusted for trading-day differences and moving holidays.
E-Commerce sales data can be found in Haver's USECON database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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