U.S. E-Commerce Spending Rose 18% In Q4; Mobile Share Grows

comScore reported Monday that U.S. e-commerce Q4 spending totaled $109.3 billion, with nearly 21 percent coming from mobile devices. See the numbers here.

RESTON, VA, — comScore on Monday reported Q4 2016 U.S. retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers and mobile devices. For Q4 2016, $109.3 billion was spent online, marking an 18-percent increase versus the same quarter in 2015. The majority of online buying occurred on desktop computers, with $86.6 billion spent, up 13 percent vs. year ago. Meanwhile, m-commerce 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 percent 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 m-commerce in 2010. This mobile share of digital commerce dollars grew considerably from 17 percent a year ago and from only 4 percent 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%

For comScore’s final desktop and mobile online spending estimates from the 2016 holiday season, check out its blog post on the topic here.

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