Furniture and Food Sales Help Brighten the Commerce Outlook
Retail Leader | June 22, 2020
E-commerce accounted for 22% of U.S. retail sales in April and May, up from 11% in 2019, according to a new Mastercard report, a spike that promises to help shape the post-pandemic world of commerce.
“In April-May, more than $53 billion of incremental spending occurred on e-commerce channels in the U.S.” Mastercard said. “This comparison is based on the typical e-commerce growth rate and e-commerce sales for the same period in 2019.”
The new report also gives more evidence about the gains that food retail in the U.S. has made during the COVID-19 outbreak. “In the U.S., demand for groceries remains elevated, with sales up 9.2 percent year-over-year in May across online and in-store,” the report said. “This is the strongest grocery sales volume for the month of May in SpendingPulse history.”
In other markets, consumer spending appears to be normalizing. “In May, U.S. hardware sales across online and in-store were up 36.2 percent compared to 2019. In addition, furniture sales grew 7.5 percent year-over-year in May, the strongest growth rate for the sector since August 2018.” The question is will this digital shift stick around for the long-term.