Salesforce: Q1 U.S. online sales stay flat, mobile shows promise

First quarter U.S. and global online sales performance might best be summed up as “meh,” although mobile retailers have reason to smile.

According to new Salesforce Shopping Index data, U.S. online sales and traffic growth were flat in the first quarter of 2024. In addition, U.S. consumers placed 3% fewer orders online compared to the same quarter the previous year.

Meanwhile, Salesforce Shopping Index data indicates that global online sales grew modestly year over year (+2%), with online traffic and average spend per order increasing by just 1% each. But despite traffic and spend being up, global order volumes continued to decline, falling by 2% year-over-year. 

Salesforce analysis indicates higher-than-anticipated inflation around the globe drove the increase in sales despite fewer orders being placed. And while U.S. online sales moved out of the red from the fourth quarter of 2023 to 0%, they remain well below the 4% year-over-year growth Salesforce observed in the first quarter of 2023. 

However, mobile commerce proved to be a bright spot. U.S., mobile traffic share reached 75% and mobile order share hit 64%, up 4% and 5% year-over-year, respectively. Global mobile traffic and orders both grew 4% year-over-year, reaching a 78% and 66% share, respectively.

According to Salesforce, online consumer behavior during the first quarter of 2024 was similar to e-commerce trends observed during the 2023 holiday season, with shoppers waiting for major online discounts that started during Amazon Prime Day in July and ran through Cyber Monday.

Other findings

• Categories with the highest online sales growth were health and beauty (+12%) and general handbags (+7%).
• Electronics and accessories (-13%) and toys and learning (-12%) were the categories with the online declines during the quarter. Salesforce advises this is part of a broader trend of consumers spending less often on non-essentials, and frequently trading down in price when they do make a purchase.
• The share of global repeat buyers in the first quarter was 43%, representing an 8% increase since 2022. 

"Based on our Shopping Index data for the first quarter of this year, shoppers remain cautious and are pulling back on spending, likely to save for big shopping moments later on if they follow their pattern from 2023," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights and strategy, retail & consumer goods at Salesforce.

The Salesforce Shopping Index analyzes the activity and online shopping statistics of more than 1.5 billion unique global shoppers from more than 67 countries. Several factors are applied to extrapolate macroeconomic figures for the broader retail industry, and these results are not indicative of Salesforce performance.