Digital commerce exceeds $1 trillion in consumer spend in the US

Comscore yesterday released the 2023 State of Digital Commerce Report stating the internet recorded the largest year of digital commerce in its history in 2022, exceeding $1 trillion in online retail consumer spend for the first time in the U.S. A 21% increase in spend year-over-year (YoY).

The 2023 State of Digital Commerce Report analyses online retail purchases across desktop and mobile devices. Comscore’s Digital Commerce Measurement includes all online retail spending except for travel.

The top growing digital commerce categories YoY were ‘Event Tickets’ (75%), ‘Digital Content’ (60%) and ‘Apparel and Accessories’ (37%).

In Q4, the biggest spending quarter of the year, dollars spent on mobile devices in the U.S. also grew at a higher rate than on desktop devices, 26% vs 14%, with mobile’s share of total digital commerce reaching nearly 40%.

“We’ve been measuring digital commerce trends for over two decades, including the addition of mobile in 2013. This has really given us a front row seat to digital commerce growth over the years, as well as the increased pace of adoption during the pandemic,” said Comscore’s Ian Essling, Senior Director of Survey Insights, Comscore.

“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, digital commerce was at $705.4 billion. A year later, it hit $904.3 billion, and this year we’re over $1 trillion. That level of growth previously took four years to achieve. Consumers are clearly doubling down on what works best for them — seamless, convenient, online purchasing across many different verticals and product types.”