Ecommerce Spending Increases 18% to $109.3 Billion in Q4 2016

comScore reported its Q4 2016 U.S. retail ecommerce spending from desktop computers and mobile devices. For Q4 2016, $109.3 billion was spent online, marking an 18% increase versus the same quarter in 2015. The majority of online buying occurred on desktop computers, with $86.6 billion spent, up 13%  vs. year ago. Meanwhile, mcommerce spending on smartphones and tablets contributed $22.7 billion, with a significantly higher year-over-year growth rate than desktop at 45 percent.

Q4 2016 vs. Q4 2015: Desktop and Mobile Spending

Non-Travel (Retail) Total Digital Commerce Spending

Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases

Total U.S. – Home & Work Desktop Computers, Smartphones, Tablets

Source: comScore E-Commerce and M-Commerce Measurement

Millions ($)
Q4 2015 Q4 2016 Percent Change
    Desktop $76,881 $86,584 13%
    Mobile $15,625 $22,680 45%
    Total Digital $92,507 $109,264 18%

Overall, mobile accounted for 21% of total digital commerce dollars in Q4 2016, which is mobile’s highest recorded share of online sales for a single quarter since comScore began measuring mcommerce in 2010. This mobile share of digital commerce dollars grew considerably from 17% a year ago and from only 4% in Q4 2010. Smartphones and tablets have become increasingly important to online buying with every succeeding year.

Mobile Commerce as a Share of Total Digital Commerce

Excludes Auctions, Autos and Large Corporate Purchases

Total U.S. – Smartphones & Tablets

Source: comScore E-Commerce and M-Commerce Measurement

Quarter M-Commerce % Share
Q4 2010 3.6%
Q4 2011 9.0%
Q4 2012 11.3%
Q4 2013 11.7%
Q4 2014 13.0%
Q4 2015 16.9%
Q4 2016 20.8%

Leave a Reply