Electronic Shopping
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 46,000 electronic shopping retailers in the US are online-only retailers, with no or limited-format physical stores. The business format ranges from the independent specialized seller with one or a few lines of products to the large conglomeration of businesses selling a broad range of products on a single e-commerce website (Amazon, Etsy). Websites that bring together third-party sellers are known as marketplaces and typically earn revenue by charging sellers a fee that is either fixed or based on a percentage of sales or a number of transactions.
Fierce Ecommerce Competition
Electronic shopping sites must find ways to stand out in an e-commerce market flooded with domestic and foreign retailers as well as dominant players like Amazon.
Delivery Race Slows
The need for speed in ecommerce delivery is easing with shoppers showing a greater willingness to wait for deliveries of household items as concerns grow over the cost of fulfillment.
Industry size & Structure
The average electronic shopping retailer operates out of a single location, employs 16 workers, and generates $25 million annually.
- The electronic shopping retailer industry consists of 46,000 companies that employ over 734,100 workers and generate $1.15 trillion annually.
- The industry is concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom with the top 20 firms accounting for about 53% of industry sales.
- Large companies include Amazon, eBay, Qurate, Etsy, Wayfair, and Zara. Many large companies have international operations.
Industry Forecast
Electronic Shopping Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 31, 2025 - Import Cargo Levels Up Amid Tariff Uncertainty
- According to the Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, tariff turmoil will contribute to elevated imports at major US container ports in spring 2025, but volume could decrease by the summer. Higher tariffs on goods from China announced by the Trump Administration are driving the elevated imports, with additional tariffs looming. Jonathan Gold, NRF VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, said retailers are bringing as much merchandise into the US ahead of rising tariffs as possible, noting, “Retailers have been working on supply chain diversification, but that doesn’t happen overnight.” Tracker data showed that US ports handled 2.2 million 20-foot equivalent units in January 2024, which was up 4.4% month over month and up 13.4% year over year. Imports may also be affected by a proposed fee of $1-$1.5 million for each time a Chinese-built ship docks at an American port.
- Consumer confidence levels, an indicator of discretionary spending, have fallen due to consumer anxiety about tariff effects and economic uncertainty, according to a report in CFO Dive. The consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan dropped 11% in March 2025, marking the third straight month of declines and hitting the lowest level since November 2022. In addition, the Conference Board index of consumer confidence fell in March 2025. According to Stephanie Guichard, senior economist for global indicators at the Conference Board, “Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month in March, falling below the relatively narrow range that had prevailed since 2022.”
- Online is expected to be the top destination for Valentine’s Day spending in 2025, with nearly 40% of consumers expecting to shop online, according to National Retail Federation data in Digital Commerce 360. Other top shopping destinations include department stores (34%), discount stores (29%), and florists and specialty stores (18%). Consumers plan to spend an average of $188.81 in 2025 on the holiday, up from $185.81 in 2024, totaling a record $27.5 billion on gifts and outings for Valentine’s Day. The top categories for Valentine’s Day spending include greeting cards ($1.4 billion projected), candy ($2.5 billion), flowers ($2.9 billion), an evening out ($5.4 billion), and jewelry ($6.5 billion). Nearly a third of consumers intend to buy gifts for friends for Valentine’s Day, up from 28% in 2024.
- Shoppers continued to flex their omnichannel shopping muscles in the 2024 holiday shopping season, with a 7.5% increase year over year in Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) and Reserve Online, Pick Up in Store (ROPIS) transactions, according to Chain Store Age. The report from Locally found that nearly 50% of online shoppers abandoned their carts when local pickup wasn’t an option. Over 90% of leading retailers are expected to adopt ominichannel strategies. According to Locally CEO Mike Massey, "The data shows a clear and sustained shift toward local retail as a preferred choice. Consumers increasingly demanded the flexibility to browse and buy on their terms, and local retailers were quick to respond with omnichannel strategies that bridged the gap between digital and physical commerce.”
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