Online purchases up 50% year-over-year in third quarter

Online shoppers in the U.S. spent $218.1 billion on retail purchases during the third quarter of 2020.

It was a 50% increase over the $145.5 billion spent in the year-ago period, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. According to the research data analyzed by Stock Apps. It was also an improvement over the second quarter’s total of $211.5 billion. 

Here is some analysis from Stock Apps:

* In the third, Amazon had a 39.3% increase in revenue from North America. However, its share of U.S. online retail revenue dropped from 23.6% to 23.1% in the three-month period. At the height of the pandemic, its share had spiked to 26%. The third-quarter decline was the largest seen it has experienced in the previous three years.

* Costco posted a 90.6% increase in e-commerce sales during the quarter which ended on August 31, 2020. For its fiscal year 2020, its online sales spiked by 49.5% compared to 7.9% in 2019. 

* Best Buy Co. reported an increase of 242% in online sales for the quarter which ended on August 1, 2020. Similarly, Target’s online sales grew by 195%. Walmart also recorded a 97% growth in online sales.