The Total Number of Retail Sales Will Drop But Ecommerce Firms Will Likely Benefit

Thursday, August 6th, 2020

According to forecasts by eMarketer, a leading financial analysis firm, the overall ecommerce retail sales in US is expected to decrease by 10.4% before the close of 2020.

Such a drop has not been experienced since the 8.3% drop witnessed in the financial recession of 2009.

The market analyst also estimated that the US will make $4.894 trillion in sales this year. This figure is significantly lower than recent yearly statistics that haven’t dipped that low since 2016.

On the upside, eMarketer indicates that Ecommerce sales will rise by 18% in 2020. The total sum will be roughly $709.8 billion. The firm’s analytical systems are recording data that indicate the Ecommerce sector is booming amidst the Corona pandemic.

ACI Worldwide, an online ecommerce giant, recently conducted an annual internal audit of their sales in May and found that its overall transaction volume had gone up by 81%. The purchase of sportswear, accessories, and other related goods increased by 216%, contributing significantly to the overall increase in transaction volume.

This growth in sales came with additional benefits, such as low risk and lower return rates. The occurrence rate of fraud also went down by 0.5%. Sadly, this positive trend in ecommerce firms is not seen in brick and mortar shops where sales are steadily declining.

According to eMarketer Inc, physical sales will drag down the total retail sales in 2020. The firm estimates that physical store sales will shrink by 14% and result in a gross sum of $4.184 trillion by end year.

The Growth of Ecommerce Is Introducing New Trends in the Market

At the beginning of the pandemic, many Americans decided to hunker down at home, resulting in a sharp drop in retail sales. Cindy Liu, a high-ranking analyst at eMarketer, stated that it would take several years to normalize consumer trends.

eMarketer says that the boom in the ecommerce sector occurred unprecedentedly and is likely to continue boosting growth in the sector. As more and more people shop online, new trends have come up.

Ecommerce activities such as grocery shopping and same-day deliveries have grown exponentially in the last three months. The sale of beverages and foodstuffs has increased 59%, whereas health and beauty product sales have gone up 32%.

The increase in overall ecommerce sales will benefit ecommerce giants. According to eMarketer, Amazon will likely handle 38% of the total online retail market share. Walmart will follow with a 5.8% share, and other firms likely to benefit are Apple, eBay, and Best buy.