Ecommerce Category Statistics & Trends

Ecommerce Category Statistics & Trends

Each year Digital Commerce 360 breaks down the leading online retailers by region and category. Here are the leading ecommerce trends on each of the 14 online categories Digital Commerce 360 tracks.

Ecommerce Category Breakdowns

Apparel & Accessories
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Apparel & Accessories

Automotive Parts & Accessories
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Consumer Electronics
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Flowers & Gifts
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Food & Beverage
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Hardware & Home Improvement
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

 

 

Health & Beauty
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Houseware & Home Furnishings
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Jewelry
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

 

 

Mass Merchant
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Office Supplies
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Specialty
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

 

 

Sporting Goods
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

Toys & Hobbies
Ecommerce Statistics + Trends

KEY MERCHANDISE CATEGORY TAKEAWAYS FROM TOP 1000 ECOMMERCE DATA

Key Takeaways:

  • Health/Beauty and Food/Beverage are two merchandise categories that stand out in terms of pandemic-era growth.
  • Top 1000 retailers in the Health/Beauty category increased their online sales by 9.8% in 2022 over 2021, tying them with merchants in the Hardware/Home Improvement segment for top year over-year growth.
  • Over the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health/Beauty category grew by a compound annual growth rate of 26.1%, making it the second fastest-growing category in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.
  • Leading the way in pandemic-period growth was Food/Beverage, which posted a compound annual growth rate of 32.4% from 2019, the last year before COVID-19 hit, through 2022. However, online sales in that category grew by only 3.4% in 2022 as many consumers returned to shopping for food in supermarkets.
  • Growth in online sales of food and drink did not begin with the pandemic. In the five year period from 2014 to 2019, Top 1000 sales in the Food/Beverage category posted a compound annual growth rate of 33.6%, easily the fastest growth among the 14 merchandise categories into which Top 1000 retailers are grouped.
  • The merchandise category with the largest number of Top 1000 retailers is Apparel/Accessories, with 247 merchants. Within that category, Handbags stands out as a sub-category that has fared well online in recent years. Handbags led all clothing subcategories in growth during the three years of the pandemic, posting 40.0% compound annual growth, and placed second in 2022 year-over year growth at 20.2%.