U.S. retail e-commerce sales in Q1 2026
Seasonally adjusted U.S. retail e-commerce sales reached $326.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, May 18, 2026Updated June 30, 2026
Online shopping and gift discovery statistics.
A current, source-backed reference for online retail, holiday spending, mobile shopping, returns, and pet-related buying in the United States.
13 sourced statsRetail, holiday, mobile, returns, and pet-market data from public industry sources.
Real sourcesEvery number links to the source used.
Current dataRecent retail and shopping figures only.
Easy to quoteStable anchors sit on each statistic.
Useful contextNumbers are grouped around real buying behaviour.
Key takeaways
Online shopping keeps growing, but the behaviour is not one-note. Shoppers are researching on smaller screens, stretching budgets, comparing more carefully, and still spending on useful household, gift, and pet products.
Digital buying is still expanding
U.S. e-commerce grew faster than total retail in early 2026, and online holiday spend set another record in late 2025.
Convenience shapes the sale
Mobile checkout, flexible payment, clear returns, and fast comparison matter because shoppers are balancing value with friction.
Useful products have room to win
Holiday, home, personal-care, and pet spending all point toward practical finds that feel worth the money.
Statistics
Use the anchor beside any stat when you want to link directly to that number.
Share of total U.S. retail sales that happened online
E-commerce accounted for 16.9% of total U.S. retail sales in the first quarter of 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, May 18, 2026Year-over-year growth in U.S. retail e-commerce
The first-quarter 2026 e-commerce estimate rose 9.8% from the first quarter of 2025, while total retail sales rose 3.9%.
U.S. Census Bureau, May 18, 2026U.S. online holiday spending in 2025
Consumers spent a record $257.8 billion online from November 1 through December 31, 2025, up 6.8% year over year.
Adobe Analytics, January 7, 2026Online holiday transactions completed on smartphones
Smartphones drove the majority of online transactions during the 2025 U.S. holiday shopping season.
Adobe Analytics, January 7, 2026Holiday online spend using buy now, pay later
Buy now, pay later contributed $20 billion in online spending during the 2025 holiday season, up 9.8% year over year.
Adobe Analytics, January 7, 2026Increase in retail-site traffic from generative AI tools
Traffic to U.S. retail sites from generative AI tools rose 693.4% during the 2025 holiday season, from a modest base.
Adobe Analytics, January 7, 2026Average planned winter-holiday budget
U.S. consumers budgeted an average of $890 for winter-holiday gifts and other seasonal items in 2025.
National Retail Federation, 2025 holiday seasonOnline Black Friday shoppers
Black Friday remained the top shopping day online in the 2025 winter holiday season, drawing 85.7 million online shoppers.
National Retail Federation, 2025 holiday seasonHoliday shoppers who consider gift shopping stressful
Deloitte reported that 58% of surveyed holiday shoppers consider holiday gift shopping stressful.
Deloitte, October 14, 2025Estimated return rate for online sales
Retailers estimated that 19.3% of online sales would be returned in 2025.
National Retail Federation and Happy Returns, October 15, 2025U.S. households with at least one pet
APPA reported that 95 million U.S. households owned at least one pet in 2025.
American Pet Products Association, May 11, 2026U.S. pet industry expenditures in 2025
U.S. pet industry expenditures reached $158 billion in 2025 and were projected to reach $165 billion in 2026.
American Pet Products Association, May 11, 2026Methodology and sources
This page curates recent public statistics from government, retail, ecommerce, and pet-industry sources. Figures are copied only when a named source provides the number and date. Forecasts are labelled as projections when the original source presents them that way.
Cite this page
Suggested citation: A NEW FIND. "Online Shopping and Gift Discovery Statistics." Updated June 30, 2026. https://anewfind.com/online-shopping-statistics