Economy Watch Weekly: E-Commerce Snaps Up Retail Market Share

February 27, 2018

Pretty soon, internet-based retail sales are likely to encompass 10 percent of total U.S. retail sales. Economy Editor Dees Stribling explains why, for the week ending Feb. 23, 2018.

U.S. e-commerce retail sales are showing no signs of slowing down, hitting $119 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017. This total accounted for 9.1 percent of all U.S. retail sales for the quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. E-commerce sales have grown by double digits in each of the last four quarters, accounting for 3.5 percent of total sales in 2008 and growing to about 5 percent of total sales by the first quarter of 2013. Economy Editor Dees Stribling delves into the impact of e-commerce on the retail sector, for the week ending Feb. 23, 2018.