eCommerce Tops 16% of Retail Sales

Earlier this year, PYMNTS Intelligence detailed that in-store shopping was far from dead. But when it comes to buying online, we found that consumers spent more when getting items through digital channels, and key areas of discretionary spending were gravitating to online merchants.

The data showed that consumers shopping online were more likely to purchase hobby items (76% more likely), electronics (61% more likely) and sporting goods (61% more likely) compared to in-store shoppers.

The latest government statistics, released Tuesday (Aug. 19), indicate that there’s been a resiliency in online shopping, where growth in online spending has outpaced overall retail sales growth.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, retail eCommerce sales for the second quarter of 2025 totaled $304.2 billion, adjusted for seasonal variation. This marks a 1.4% increase from Q1 2025 and a 5.3% year-over-year (YoY) growth compared to Q2 2024.

Total retail sales reached $1,865.4 billion in Q2 2025, up 0.4% quarter over quarter and 3.9% YoY. As a result, eCommerce accounted for 16.3% of total retail sales, slightly above the 16.1% share recorded one year earlier.

Figure 1:

eCommerce growth in Q2 2025 varied across sectors.

Motor vehicle and parts sales online rose to $17.2 billion, up 8.3% from Q1 2025 and 15.9% YoY, signaling continued digital adoption in this traditionally offline-heavy sector.

Furniture, building materials, and electronics maintained strong momentum, with eCommerce sales reaching $30.1 billion, an 8.7% quarterly increase and 8.1% higher than Q2 2024, extending the robust expansion highlighted earlier this year.

The clothing and general merchandise category remained the largest contributor, recording $53.8 billion in eCommerce sales, up 8.6% from Q1 and 11.2% YoY. Within this group, general merchandise drove most of the gains, while online clothing and accessories saw more modest growth of 9.2% quarterly but just -1.3% YoY, reflecting a slowdown compared to prior quarters.

Meanwhile, building materials and garden supplies saw a sharp jump of 34.7% in online sales versus Q1, though YoY growth moderated to 9.9%. This contrasts with Q1 2025 when furniture and electronics led sector growth.

Figure 2:

Separate PYMNTS Intelligence reporting has underscored a bifurcation in the preferred payment methods tied to online or in-store channels. As noted here, for online retail transactions, consumers are 27% more likely to use credit cards than debit cards, whereas in physical retail locations, they are 50% more likely to use debit cards than credit cards.

Consumers are twice as likely to use digital wallets for online retail purchases (16%) compared to in-store retail purchases (8%).

Looking Ahead

The trends seen in the second quarter may prove to carry over into the current period.  The latest data on retail sales, covering the July period, and thus a few weeks subsequent to the end of Q2, disclosed that sales were 0.5% higher over June’s levels, which in turn had been revised upward to a 0.9% gain from a previous 0.6% advance.   During that time frame, Amazon had pushed Prime Day to last four days versus the usual two days.

PYMNTS Intelligence found that during that event, 52% of all adult American consumers purchased something during the event, a record number, spending an average $360, up 10% from last year’s two-day sale.

Walmart, in turn, held a six-day sales event last month. The average Walmart+ Week shopper spent $484, a nearly 11% rise. In July, non-store retail sales, which includes but is not limited to eCommerce activity, gained 0.8%, outpacing overall sales growth month over month.