U.S. online retail sales to reach $865b in 2021

U.S. online retail sales will reach $865 billion in 2021, with nearly two-thirds of Amazon Prime Day shoppers surveyed saying they intend to spend more during this year’s event than they did in 2020, according to FTI Consulting in its 2021 U.S. Online Retail Forecast.

The projected 2021 online retail sales total is a 13.5 percent increase over 2020, a strong follow-up to last year’s pandemic-fueled 32 percent increase. The online channel’s share of U.S. retail sales (excluding auto and gas) is expected to reach 20.5 percent in 2021, compared to 19 percent in 2020 and 15.4 percent in 2019. U.S. online market share is expected to reach 33 percent by the end of the decade.

“As Americans begin to emerge from CO