E-Commerce: The Biggest Box

The Census defines e-commerce sales as goods and services where an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sale are negotiated over the Internet, extranet, Electronic Data Interchange network, e-mail, or other online system. According to the most recent Wal-Mart Annual Report, the U.S. sales for Wal-Mart (including Sam’s Club) for the 12 months ending January 31, 2010 totaled $258 billion.

Business Online Sales

According to the U.S. Census Bureau E –Stats, business-to-consumer (B-to-C) online sales (goods and services) totaled $288 billion in 2008. But this is only part of online sales; businesses also sell to other businesses.

An Increase in Online Service Purchases

The U.S. Census E-Stats reports that business to consumer e-commerce service revenues totaled $146 billion in 2008. In contrast, that’s more than the $142 billion consumers spent on retail online in 2008.

Is E-Commerce Overtaking Retail?

In 2009, consumers purchased $143 billion in retail goods online from U.S. businesses. That compares to $27 billion in online retail in 2000. Online retail sales include purchases from online only retailers like Amazon and traditional retail companies like Barnes and Nobel and Best Buy that also sell online.

Retail Sales Improving

Every month, the U.S. Census releases sales data by major retail category. Comparing September 2009 sales to September 2008 provides an indicator of the current state of the economiy.

Dicounters Gain During Recesseion

Removing traditional department stores from the other general merchandise stores category reveals that sales at discout department stores have increased through the first nine months of 2008 and 2009, even as total retail spending falls.

Measuring Inventory

The health of the local housing market is a function of supply and demand. “Months of Inventory” is a term that measures the impacts of the supply and demand on the housing market.