Dive Brief:
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Consumer purchasing habits from 2020 could continue to linger in 2021. A new report from eMarketer projects that retail e-commerce sales in the U.S. will increase by 13.7% to $908.73 billion — lower than last year’s 18% to $709.78 billion surge, but still exceeds pre-pandemic estimates of 12.8%.
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The report predicts that apparel and accessories e-commerce sales will grow by 18.9% once the coronavirus pandemic subsides, followed by food and beverage (18.1%) and healthcare, beauty and personal care (16.1%).
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Per eMarketer’s projections, the top two categories that will generate the most e-commerce sales in 2021 will be books, music or video (69.1%) and computer and consumer electronics (53.2%). But toys and hobbies will take the next top spot in 2022.
Dive Insight:
As more consumers get vaccinated and large gatherings return, some categories affected by the pandemic are beginning to show signs of life.
While eMarketer anticipates that clothing and accessories will see an uptick in sales once the pandemic ends, retail sales tracked by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed a 105% spike in clothing and accessory sales from March 2020 when much of the sector was forced to shut down or significantly scale back in-store operations. Plus, sporting goods, hobby and bookstore sales also jumped by 78% from last year, and electronics and appliances increased by 29%, per the Department of Commerce data.
Though the coronavirus…
