It is learned that recently, DigitalCommerce360 released the 2023 North American TOP1000 Online Retailers Report, announcing a series of data on the 1,000 retailers with the highest online sales in North America in 2022 and even since the epidemic, including sales, growth rate, market share, etc.

Sales exceeded one trillion US dollars for two consecutive years, and Amazon's share fell

In 2022, online sales of the top 1,000 online retailers in North America reached $1.022 trillion, an increase of only 5.1%. This is the first time that the sales growth rate of the top 1,000 has dropped to single digits since the 2008-2009 recession.

In the five years before the pandemic, the average annual growth rate of e-commerce sales of the TOP1000 online retailers was 17.7%. Based on this growth rate, the e-commerce sales of the top 1000 retailers in 2022 should be US$947 billion. However, the actual sales were US$1.022 trillion, which means that the growth driven by the pandemic brought an additional US$75 billion in benefits to the top 1000 retailers.

From 2020 to 2022, the compound annual growth rate of e-commerce sales of the top 1,000 online retailers in North America was 20.7%, about 3% higher than the 17.7% before the epidemic, and the cumulative growth rate over three years was 575.9%.

Online sales of retail chains and consumer brand manufacturers are growing fastest, while direct sellers who sell through print catalogs or TV shopping programs are growing slowest. According to the data, online sales of consumer brand manufacturers will grow the most in 2022, at 8.3%, followed by retail chains, with a growth rate of 5.7%.

During the 2020-2022 pandemic, the e-commerce sales growth rate of pure online retailers was 19.7%, slightly lower than the average growth rate of 20.7% of the top 1,000 retailers, and the share fell from 49.6% to 48.3%. Amazon's growth rate was 20.3%, while the growth rate of the other 427 pure online retailers in the top 1,000 was only 17.9%.

Currently, among the TOP1000 retailers, Amazon's share of pure online retailers is over 75%, but its share of overall retailers has dropped to 36.5% from 36.9% in 2019. The decline in the share of the other 427 pure online retailers is even more obvious, from 12.7% three years ago to 11.8% in 2022.

2022 is also the year when the e-commerce sales of the top 1,000 online retailers in North America will exceed US$1 trillion for two consecutive years.

Market concentration has declined

Like the overall retail industry, the North American online retail market is quite concentrated, but now this concentration is decentralizing. Although giants such as Amazon, Walmart Inc. (ranked second in the top 1,000) and Apple Inc. (ranked third in the top 1,000) have a considerable market share and influence, smaller online retailers continue to grow.

In 2022, among the TOP1000 online retailers, the online sales of the top 500 retailers increased by 5.1%, the online sales of retailers ranked 1001-2000 increased by 5.9%, and the online sales of retailers ranked 501-1000 increased by 6.1%, surpassing the top 500 retailers for the second consecutive year.

Market penetration rate increased significantly

Considering all three countries, North America’s e-commerce market will grow at a CAGR of 22.0% from 2019 to 2022, compared with 9.0% for overall retail sales. The difference is particularly stark in Mexico, where online sales are growing at an annual rate of 37.9%, while total retail sales are up just 3.1%.

As online sales grow much faster than total retail sales, North American e-commerce sales as a share of total retail sales will increase from 12.8% in 2019 to 18.0% in 2022.

E-commerce penetration rates have increased significantly in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The United States has the highest e-commerce penetration rate, with online sales accounting for 20.9% of total retail sales in 2022, compared to 15.4% in 2019.

Other data

In 2022, the median conversion rate of the Top 1,000 retailers was 2.8%, basically the same as in 2021 and significantly higher than 2.2% in 2019.

The average order value for the Top 1000 retailers rises from $156 in 2021 to $180 in 2022 as inflation pushes up retail prices.

Food/beverages is the fastest growing category in online sales during the pandemic, with a compound annual growth rate of 32.2% from 2019 to 2022, followed by health/beauty with an annual growth rate of 26.1%.

In 2022, 2% of the retail chains in the Top 1000 offered buy online, pick up in store services, up from 71.3% in 2021, but the proportion providing curbside pickup services fell from 55.2% a year ago to 44.4% in 2022.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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