E-Commerce Transactions: What People Really Buy Online

What are people really buying online? Which websites get the most transactions? More business happens on the web than you may realize. The categories are separated into clothing, electronics, furniture, office supplies and books and magazine sell more often online, overall the majority of U.S. purchases still take place in brick-and-mortar stores, but the gap is closing quickly.

The categories with the highest online buying percentage. These retail segments had higher online purchased in aggregate dollars than from brick and mortar stores. Percentages show e-commerce sales as a percent of total sales.

percentage-online sales vs brick and mortar

Majority of Purchases Online

electronics 74.1%
music & videos 74%
office supplies 67.8%
clothing 65.9%
furniture 65.8%
non merchandise recipts 65.5%
toys & games 61.4%
books and magazine 61%
sporting goods 58.2%
food, beer & wine 57.9%

The categories with the lowest online buying percentage, it is odd that more people prefer to buy computers in store and go to pharmacies in person. These segments were online pioneers with Dell and Drugstore.com the early leaders

Majority of Purchases Offline

Computer hardware / software 48.1%
Health & drug aids 8.8%

Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Chart Source: http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kypmk0owX21qz94q6o1_400.png

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16 Responses

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  2. I couldn’t believe how easy it is to sell from an ecommerce site. Truthfully it feels like forever since I’ve happened upon a digital gold mine.

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  6. I am impressed with how much people really buy online. Back in the late 90’s everyone thought local retail stores would be obsolete – they were just a few decades early.

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