U.S. E-commerce Retail Sales Hit $261B In 2013, Annual Census Data Shows

E-commerce sales for U.S. retailers grew 13.6 percent to $261 billion in 2013, up from a revised $229 billion in 2012, according to the latest annual report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Taken from a compilation of survey data, the E-Stats 2013: Measuring the Electronic Economy report shows retail sales accounted for 5.8 percent of total sales in 2013, up from 5.3 percent in 2012. Total sales increased by 3.8 percent to $4.5 trillion in 2013 from a revised $4.3 trillion in 2012.

The largest retail merchandise category for e-commerce sales in 2013 was Clothing and Clothing Accessories, which includes footwear with $40 billion.

The full-year report, published this week with 2013 and revised 2012 estimates, summarizes e-commerce statistics from 2013 annual surveys, including the Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS). The full E-Stats report is available here.

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About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.