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U.S. ecommerce sales have increased year over year, every year, since the Commerce Department began tracking sales — and without exception.

U.S. ecommerce sales and penetration of total sales reached new peaks in 2024, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data.

Ecommerce penetration — or the percentage of total U.S. retail sales that are completed online — has grown every year but one since the Commerce Department began tracking this data in 2000. In 2022, ecommerce penetration was 20.7%, a slight dip compared to 20.8% in 2021.

As such, ecommerce penetration reached a record 22.7% in 2024. Ecommerce has accounted for at least a fifth of U.S. retail sales every year since 2020.

It’s not just the ecommerce penetration that has grown, though. Since the Commerce Department began tracking ecommerce sales, they have increased year over year, every year  — and without exception.

In other words, the dollar amount and the percentage of total sales stemming from ecommerce have both increased every year.


And in 2024, U.S. ecommerce grew at more than double the rate of total retail sales (7.5% compared to 2.6%).

U.S. ecommerce sales continue climbing the ladder in 2024

2024 U.S. ecommerce sales reached $1.192 trillion, which is more than double what they were five years prior: $571.088 billion in 2019.

That reflects sustained growth since the COVID-19 pandemic surged ecommerce sales in the U.S. and abroad.

It also marks 7.5% growth over 2023. So far, 2022 has had the slowest year-over-year U.S. ecommerce sales growth rate in the 2020s. But the ecommerce industry has maintained and built off its pandemic gains nonetheless.

More than $500 billion of 2024’s U.S. ecommerce sales came from the two largest online retailers in North America. That’s no surprise, said Farnia Ghavami, executive vice president of digital strategy at Digital Commerce 360.

Amazon ranks No. 1 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. The database is how Digital Commerce 360 tracks the largest North American online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. That database ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

Meanwhile, Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 2000 and ranks No. 9 among the Global Online Marketplaces.

Impact of the Top 2000 on U.S. ecommerce sales in 2024

Amazon and Walmart controlled over 40% of all U.S. online retail transactions in 2024, Ghavami said.

“Of the 2,000 online retailers Digital Commerce ranks in North America, a staggering 82% of their total global web sales are to U.S. consumers,” he added.

He noted that although the Top 100 retailers within the Top 2000 control over 66.3% of U.S. ecommerce, the growth is coming from outside the Top 100.

“426 retailers ranked 101 through 2,000 are growing faster than U.S. ecommerce as a whole, while only 33 retailers in the Top 100 have achieved that feat,” Ghavami said. “Therefore, nearly half of the retailers ranked 101 through 2,000 are growing faster than U.S. ecommerce as a whole (7.5%), compared to just 33 in the top 100. This presents a significant opportunity for retailers outside the top tier.”

The 2025 edition of Digital Commerce 360’s State of American Ecommerce Report dives deeper into the impact of the Top 2000 retailers on U.S. ecommerce sales.

How is ecommerce penetration calculated? 

U.S. ecommerce sales accounted for 16.1% of total sales in 2024, and 15.4% of total sales in 2023, according to the Commerce Department.

Digital Commerce 360 studies non-seasonally adjusted commerce department data and excludes spending in segments that don’t typically sell online. These segments include:

  • Restaurants
  • Bars
  • Automobile dealers
  • Gas stations
  • Fuel dealers

U.S. ecommerce penetration reflects the share of dollars consumers could potentially spend online.

The commerce department defines ecommerce sales as the sales of goods and services where an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sales are negotiated over:

  • Internet
  • Extranet
  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network
  • Electronic mail
  • Other online system

Payment may or may not be made online. The Commerce Department publishes estimates it adjusts for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Here’s last year’s update.