Ecommerce marketing statistics for 2026, each with its source
30 ecommerce marketing statistics for 2026: US online sales, cart abandonment, Google Ads costs and email returns, each linked to the source it came from.
US retail e-commerce sales were $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, which was 17.1 percent of all retail sales (Census Bureau). The average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22 percent (Baymard Institute).
Those three numbers frame the rest of this page. There are 30 statistics below, grouped by the question each one answers. Every figure was opened at its source and carries its year. Where a figure is not limited to the US, the text says so.
The short version
- US retail e-commerce sales were $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted. The Census Bureau puts that 12.2 percent above the second quarter of 2025.
- E-commerce accounted for 17.1 percent of total US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026 on an adjusted basis.
- Baymard Institute puts the average documented online cart abandonment rate at 70.22 percent, an average of 50 separate studies.
- In Baymard’s survey of US online shoppers, 40 percent of those who abandoned a cart named extra costs such as shipping, tax and fees.
- Search ads in the Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts category cost $4.14 a click in LocaliQ’s 2026 benchmarks, with a 4.01 percent conversion rate.
- Automated emails were 2 percent of email sends and 30 percent of email revenue across Omnisend’s customers in 2025.
How big is US e-commerce?
It ran at $340.2 billion a quarter in mid-2026, about one retail dollar in six. The Census Bureau publishes the figure every quarter.
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| US retail e-commerce sales, seasonally adjusted | $340.2 billion | Census Bureau, Q2 2026 |
| E-commerce as a share of total retail sales, adjusted | 17.1% | Census Bureau, Q2 2026 |
| Change in e-commerce sales from a year earlier | Up 12.2% | Census Bureau, Q2 2026 against Q2 2025 |
| Change in e-commerce sales from the previous quarter | Up 3.8% | Census Bureau, Q2 2026 against Q1 2026 |
| Total US retail sales, seasonally adjusted | $1,986.5 billion | Census Bureau, Q2 2026 |
| Change in total retail sales from a year earlier | Up 6.7% | Census Bureau, Q2 2026 against Q2 2025 |
| E-commerce sales in the holiday quarter, not adjusted | $365.2 billion | Census Bureau, Q4 2025 |
| E-commerce share of retail in the holiday quarter, not adjusted | 18.3% | Census Bureau, Q4 2025 |
The second quarter figures are preliminary, and the Census Bureau revises them. The release is dated August 18, 2026. Online sales grew 12.2 percent in a year while total retail grew 6.7 percent.
Two notes on what is counted. The estimates include only businesses with paid employees. They also leave out online travel services, financial brokers and ticket agencies, which the Census Bureau does not class as retail. The method is set out in the release itself.
The last two rows show the season. Without seasonal adjustment, the fourth quarter of 2025 was the largest of the five quarters in the table.
Photo: Kaboompics on Pexels.
How do Americans shop online?
More of them buy on a phone than on a computer. The best openable survey is from Pew Research Center, and it is from 2022.
Pew surveyed 6,034 US adults from July 5 to 17, 2022 (Pew Research Center).
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| US adults who ever buy things online using a smartphone | 76% | Pew Research Center, 2022 |
| US adults who ever buy things online using a desktop or laptop | 69% | Pew Research Center, 2022 |
| US adults who buy online with a smartphone at least weekly | 32% | Pew Research Center, 2022 |
Age changes the picture. Among adults aged 18 to 49, 91 percent said they buy online with a smartphone. Among those aged 65 and over it was 48 percent. The survey is four years old, so treat it as a floor for phone shopping today.
Why do shoppers abandon carts?
Extra costs are the most named reason after simple browsing. The average documented abandonment rate is 70.22 percent, which Baymard Institute calculates from 50 studies.
Baymard is an independent research firm that studies online checkouts. Its page was last updated on September 22, 2025 when we opened it (Baymard Institute). The reasons come from its survey of US online shoppers. The page text we could read does not give the sample size.
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Average documented online cart abandonment rate | 70.22% | Baymard Institute, 50 studies, updated 2025 |
| US online shoppers who abandoned a cart because they were just browsing | 42% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Abandoned because extra costs were too high | 40% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Abandoned because delivery was too slow | 20% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Abandoned because they did not trust the site with card details | 19% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Abandoned because the site wanted an account created | 18% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Abandoned because checkout was too long or complicated | 17% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Form elements in the average US checkout flow | 23.48 | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
| Conversion rate gain available from better checkout design | 35.26% | Baymard Institute, page updated 2025 |
The reason rows leave out the 42 percent who were just browsing, so they describe shoppers who meant to buy. Baymard says an ideal checkout can be as short as 12 to 14 form elements.
The 35.26 percent figure is Baymard’s estimate for an average large ecommerce site. It is an estimate of what is possible. It is not a measured result for any one store.
Photo: Erick Gielow on Pexels.
What do Google Ads cost for ecommerce?
A search click in the Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts category cost $4.14 in the 2026 benchmarks. The category converted at 4.01 percent, about half the all-industry rate.
| Statistic | Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts | All 23 industries | Source and year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per click | $4.14 | $5.42 | LocaliQ, 2026 |
| Click-through rate | 8.28% | 6.64% | LocaliQ, 2026 |
| Conversion rate | 4.01% | 8.18% | LocaliQ, 2026 |
| Cost per lead | $49.40 | $66.69 | LocaliQ, 2026 |
The report has a second retail row. Apparel, Fashion and Jewelry is $4.44 a click, a 4.50 percent conversion rate and $97.51 a lead. Furniture converts at 2.99 percent.
These are search campaign benchmarks from LocaliQ’s own customers on Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. The report measures cost per lead. It does not report return on ad spend, and the page we opened does not name Shopping campaigns. Our post on what Google Ads cost in 2026 covers how the price is set.
What does email return for ecommerce?
Automated emails earn far more per send than one-off campaigns, in two vendors’ data. Every figure in this table comes from a company that sells email software, measured on its own customers.
| Statistic | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| Email return reported by retail, ecommerce and consumer goods marketers | 45 to 1 | Litmus, 2025 survey |
| Automated emails as a share of sends and of email revenue | 2% of sends, 30% of revenue | Omnisend, 2025 data |
| Revenue per send, automated emails against scheduled campaigns | $2.87 against $0.18 | Omnisend, 2025 data |
| Average email open rate | 30.7% | Omnisend, 2025 data |
| Email flows as a share of sends and of email revenue | 5.3% of sends, nearly 41% of revenue | Klaviyo, 2026 benchmarks |
| Click rate, email flows against campaigns | 5.58% against 1.69% | Klaviyo, 2026 benchmarks |
None of these three sources is limited to the US on the page we opened. The Litmus figure is from its 2025 State of Email survey of nearly 500 marketing professionals. It is what marketers reported, and Litmus does not audit it.
Omnisend’s report covers 150,000 brands and 27 billion emails sent in 2025. Klaviyo’s benchmarks are drawn from Klaviyo customers. An automated email, which Klaviyo calls a flow, is one sent by a trigger such as an abandoned cart.
The email flows checklist lists the automated emails a store usually sets up first. For budgets, see what email marketing costs in 2026.
What does this mean for your marketing?
This section is our reading of the numbers above. It is opinion, and the sources do not say it.
The checkout comes before the ad budget. Shopping clicks convert at about half the all-industry rate in the benchmarks. Baymard’s reasons for abandonment are things a store controls: surprise costs, forced accounts and long forms. Fixing those raises the return on every click you already pay for.
The email figures point the same way from two vendors. A small share of sends, the automated ones, brings in a large share of email revenue. Those emails go to people who have already shown intent. We would set up the cart, welcome and post-order emails before sending more campaigns.
Phones come first. Pew’s 2022 figures already had more adults buying on a phone than on a computer. We would test a checkout on a phone before any other screen.
Our ecommerce marketing page sets out how we approach a store. The service pages cover ecommerce SEO, Google Ads for ecommerce and ecommerce email marketing. You can test your own figures in the Google Ads ROI calculator.
What these figures do not tell you
- None of them is a result you should expect. They describe a national economy, survey panels and vendors’ customer bases.
- The Census figures cover retailers with paid employees. A one-person store with no staff is outside the estimate.
- The Pew survey is from 2022. We found no newer openable survey with the same questions.
- The email figures come from companies that sell email software, and none is limited to the US.
- The ad benchmarks measure leads on search campaigns. They do not measure revenue.
Last checked against the sources on 2026-10-02.
The bottom line
A statistic is worth quoting when you can say who counted it, when, and what one unit is. For ecommerce the strongest numbers are the Census Bureau’s, because they are a government estimate with a stated margin of error. The rest are useful and come with a seller’s interest attached. Use them to size the market and to choose what to fix first. Your own store’s conversion rate is the number to plan on.
Questions people ask about this
How big is e-commerce in the US in 2026?
US retail e-commerce sales were $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted, according to the Census Bureau. That was up 12.2 percent on the same quarter of 2025. The figure is preliminary and covers retailers with paid employees.
What percentage of US retail sales are online?
E-commerce was 17.1 percent of total US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Census Bureau. Without seasonal adjustment the share was 16.4 percent that quarter and 18.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025.
What is the average cart abandonment rate?
Baymard Institute puts the average documented online cart abandonment rate at 70.22 percent. That is an average of 50 different studies, with the page last updated in September 2025. Individual studies in that set differ, so treat it as a broad reference.
Why do online shoppers abandon their carts?
In Baymard’s survey of US online shoppers, 42 percent said they were just browsing. Among the rest, 40 percent named extra costs such as shipping, tax and fees. Slow delivery was named by 20 percent, lack of trust with card details by 19 percent and forced account creation by 18 percent.
What do Google Ads cost for an online store?
LocaliQ’s 2026 search advertising benchmarks put the Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts category at $4.14 a click with a 4.01 percent conversion rate. Apparel, Fashion and Jewelry is $4.44 a click. These are search campaign benchmarks that measure leads. They are not Shopping campaign revenue figures.
What is the return on email marketing for ecommerce?
Litmus reports that retail, ecommerce and consumer goods marketers in its 2025 survey said they got 45 dollars back for each dollar spent. That is self-reported by nearly 500 marketers. Omnisend’s 2025 customer data puts automated emails at $2.87 of revenue per send, against $0.18 for scheduled campaigns.
Do more people shop on phones or computers?
Pew Research Center surveyed 6,034 US adults in 2022. In that survey, 76 percent said they buy things online using a smartphone and 69 percent said they use a desktop or laptop. About a third, 32 percent, said they buy on a smartphone at least weekly.
Sources for every number on this page
- Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 2nd Quarter 2026, US Census Bureau, released August 18, 2026.
- Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, full release with tables, US Census Bureau.
- For shopping, phones are common and influencers have become a factor, Pew Research Center, November 21, 2022.
- Cart abandonment rate statistics, Baymard Institute, updated September 22, 2025.
- 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks, LocaliQ with WordStream.
- The ROI of email marketing, Litmus, July 16, 2025.
- 2026 Ecommerce Marketing Report, Omnisend, 2025 data.
- Email benchmarks by industry, Klaviyo, 2026 benchmarks.
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