US E-Commerce Sales Jump 14 Percent, Account For 7.2 Percent Of All Retail

Ecommerce sales in the US shot up 14.1 percent to $83.9 billion in the second quarter compared to Q2 2014 when adjusted for seasonality, the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce reported Monday. That compares to an overall increase in US retail sales of just 1.0 percent year-over-year.

In all, 7.2 percent of the estimated $1,1771.5 billion in US retail sales transactions occurred online in the second quarter, up from 7.0 percent in the first quarter of 2015 and 6.3 percent a year ago.

When not adjusting for seasonal variations, the Commerce Department estimates US retail ecommerce sales came in at $78.8 billion, up 5.1 percent from Q1 and 14.4 percent year-over-year. Ecommerce sales drove an estimated 6.6 percent of total retail sales on an unadjusted basis.

The data are based on a sampling of roughly 10,000 US retail companies, not including food services, and may include firms that don’t have an ecommerce presence.