Retail e-Commerce Gains Again, Sets Record for Percentage of All Sales

That figure is a decrease of 0.4% ('0.4%) from the first quarter, the Bureau says, following a 4.3% (+0.9%) increase from the first quarter of 2011.

e-Commerce saw a healthy increase of 15.3% from the second quarter of 2011.

Not adjusted for seasonal variation or price changes, estimated e-commerce retail sales for the second quarter tallied out at $51.2 billion ' up from 1.8% (+0.7%) from the first quarter.

Also unadjusted, total estimated e-commerce retailing accounted for 4.7% of all retail sales, the Census Bureau says.

The full report on e-commerce sales for the second quarter is available at http://1.usa.gov/dxCvIc. The Bureau says the retail e-commerce sales estimate for the third quarter is scheduled to be released on Nov. 16.

Government Methodology

The Census Bureau notes on its website that e-tail sales estimates come from the sample used for its Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) to estimate preliminary and final U.S. retail sales. It also notes that advance U.S. retail sales are estimated from a subsample of MRTS sample not sufficiently large to measure changes in retail e-commerce sales.

After those figures are parsed, a stratified simple-random sampling method selects about 12,500 retail firms. Those firms' sales are weighted and benchmarked to represent what the Bureau calls “the complete universe
of over two million retail firms.”

The Bureau explains that the MRTS sample used is based on probability and represents every employer firm with retail defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) ' regardless of whether the firms engage in e-commerce. Note, too, that online travel services, financial brokers and dealers, and ticket-sales agencies are not classified as retail and are not included in total retail or retail e-commerce sales estimates the Census Bureau promulgates.

The MRTS sample is regularly updated and accounts for new retail businesses that have employees (including sales over the Internet), business deaths and other changes to the retail-business universe. The Bureau requests that companies report e-commerce sales separately each month. About 78% of e-commerce sales estimates and 72% of all estimated U.S. retail sales for a quarter come from the MRTS samples.

Private Sector Report

e-Commerce-monitoring company comScore.com, which uses different methods to measure quarterly e-commerce activity than the government does, also reports a continuing rise in e-commerce retailing for the second quarter.

The Reston, VA, company takes note of pure retailing, basing its sales estimates on online retailing. comScore registers total second-quarter online spending at $43.2 billion, a 15% rise from the second quarter of 2011.

comScore says the second quarter of this year rang up the 11th straight year-over-year growth in online sales and the seventh double-digit quarterly growth. The quarter-to-quarter growth wasn't as fast first-to-second as it was fourth-to-first, but the muscular expansion indicates that e-commerce continues to provide a mighty forum for retailers, and the attorneys who represent them.

“While the second quarter's 15% growth rate couldn't quite match the especially high growth rate from the first quarter, it was nevertheless almost four times higher than the growth in overall consumer spending, a sign of continued strength in the e-commerce channel,” comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni, says in a statement on the company's website.

Even so, and despite the strong e-commerce figures, the economy is still struggling.

“Although e-commerce remains strong, we are taking a cautious view of the second half of the year in light of some renewed signs of economic uncertainty and a stubbornly high unemployment rate,” Fulgoni says. “In fact, consumer perception of the economy has recently deteriorated, with 56% now viewing economic conditions as poor, up from a level of 49% three months ago. So, even as commerce increasingly shifts to the online channel, any significant future pullback in overall consumer spending could dampen the strong double-digit growth rates we've been experiencing for the year-to-date.”

Second quarter highlights, according to comScore, are:

• Digital content and subscriptions was the largest category, followed by consumer electronics, flowers, greetings and gifts, computer hardware, and apparel and accessories. comScore says each of those six sectors was up “at least” 16% from the second quarter of 2011; and
• Forty-two percent of transactions made by means of e-commerce included free shipping, a pullback from the all-time high ' 52%
  in the fourth quarter of 2011.

e-Commerce in the retail sector is up again for the second time this year, with the latest jump in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's survey of quarterly retail commerce.

The Bureau reports estimated second-quarter e-commerce retail sales, adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes, of $54.8 billion ' an uptick of 3.3% ('0.7%) from the first quarter of this year ($53.09 billion, revised ' the first-quarter figures were released in May).

The estimated second quarter figures show, prima facie, a continued increase in e-commerce spending in the retail sector. Second-quarter estimates, in fact, put the percentage of e-commerce activity as a part of all retail spending at 5.1% ' an all-time high, despite a small decrease in total retail spending, which the Bureau estimates at a smidgeon below $1.08 trillion, adjusted also for trading-day differences and moving holidays.

That figure is a decrease of 0.4% ('0.4%) from the first quarter, the Bureau says, following a 4.3% (+0.9%) increase from the first quarter of 2011.

e-Commerce saw a healthy increase of 15.3% from the second quarter of 2011.

Not adjusted for seasonal variation or price changes, estimated e-commerce retail sales for the second quarter tallied out at $51.2 billion ' up from 1.8% (+0.7%) from the first quarter.

Also unadjusted, total estimated e-commerce retailing accounted for 4.7% of all retail sales, the Census Bureau says.

The full report on e-commerce sales for the second quarter is available at http://1.usa.gov/dxCvIc. The Bureau says the retail e-commerce sales estimate for the third quarter is scheduled to be released on Nov. 16.

Government Methodology

The Census Bureau notes on its website that e-tail sales estimates come from the sample used for its Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) to estimate preliminary and final U.S. retail sales. It also notes that advance U.S. retail sales are estimated from a subsample of MRTS sample not sufficiently large to measure changes in retail e-commerce sales.

After those figures are parsed, a stratified simple-random sampling method selects about 12,500 retail firms. Those firms' sales are weighted and benchmarked to represent what the Bureau calls “the complete universe
of over two million retail firms.”

The Bureau explains that the MRTS sample used is based on probability and represents every employer firm with retail defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) ' regardless of whether the firms engage in e-commerce. Note, too, that online travel services, financial brokers and dealers, and ticket-sales agencies are not classified as retail and are not included in total retail or retail e-commerce sales estimates the Census Bureau promulgates.

The MRTS sample is regularly updated and accounts for new retail businesses that have employees (including sales over the Internet), business deaths and other changes to the retail-business universe. The Bureau requests that companies report e-commerce sales separately each month. About 78% of e-commerce sales estimates and 72% of all estimated U.S. retail sales for a quarter come from the MRTS samples.

Private Sector Report

e-Commerce-monitoring company comScore.com, which uses different methods to measure quarterly e-commerce activity than the government does, also reports a continuing rise in e-commerce retailing for the second quarter.

The Reston, VA, company takes note of pure retailing, basing its sales estimates on online retailing. comScore registers total second-quarter online spending at $43.2 billion, a 15% rise from the second quarter of 2011.

comScore says the second quarter of this year rang up the 11th straight year-over-year growth in online sales and the seventh double-digit quarterly growth. The quarter-to-quarter growth wasn't as fast first-to-second as it was fourth-to-first, but the muscular expansion indicates that e-commerce continues to provide a mighty forum for retailers, and the attorneys who represent them.

“While the second quarter's 15% growth rate couldn't quite match the especially high growth rate from the first quarter, it was nevertheless almost four times higher than the growth in overall consumer spending, a sign of continued strength in the e-commerce channel,” comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni, says in a statement on the company's website.

Even so, and despite the strong e-commerce figures, the economy is still struggling.

“Although e-commerce remains strong, we are taking a cautious view of the second half of the year in light of some renewed signs of economic uncertainty and a stubbornly high unemployment rate,” Fulgoni says. “In fact, consumer perception of the economy has recently deteriorated, with 56% now viewing economic conditions as poor, up from a level of 49% three months ago. So, even as commerce increasingly shifts to the online channel, any significant future pullback in overall consumer spending could dampen the strong double-digit growth rates we've been experiencing for the year-to-date.”

Second quarter highlights, according to comScore, are:

• Digital content and subscriptions was the largest category, followed by consumer electronics, flowers, greetings and gifts, computer hardware, and apparel and accessories. comScore says each of those six sectors was up “at least” 16% from the second quarter of 2011; and
• Forty-two percent of transactions made by means of e-commerce included free shipping, a pullback from the all-time high ' 52%
  in the fourth quarter of 2011.