Forrester: U.S. sales to top $5 trillion by 2027; online to reach $1.6 trillion

The rapid, pandemic-fueled growth of online is settling back to pre-COVID levels as in-store shopping continues to rebound.

That’s one of the takeaways in a new forecast from Forrester, which expects that U.S. total retail sales will exceed $5 trillion. Online retail sales will reach $1.6 trillion.

According to Forrester’s “2022 Online Retail Sales Forecast, US,” online retail sales will grow 10% annually during the next five years to account for 30% of the market by 2027. Offline retail sales will account for 70% of total retail sales by 2027.  

The report warns that U.S retailers will face several challenges in the short term. Among the challenges that Forrester sees affecting U.S. retail in the near term are consumers holding discretionary spending due to inflation and the need to get rid of excess inventory potentially impacting profitability. 

Additional takeaways include: 

• In 2021, total U.S. retail sales reached a record high of $4.3 trillion, driven by consumers’ accumulated savings in 2020 and the stimulus checks that they received from the government

• Click-and-collect sales will exceed $200 billion by 2027. In 2022, Forrester estimates that click-and-collect sales will reach $100 billion. In 2027, they are poised to account for nearly 13% of online retail sales.

To learn more about Forrester 2022 online retail forecast, visit this blog.