The State of Ecommerce

Some stats about online shopping that’ll have you nodding AND shaking your head

Published in

Hyperlink Magazine

4 min readJan 18, 2018

This article appeared in the June 2017 premiere issue of Hyperlink, a new magazine focused on the intersection of media, technology, commerce, and culture. Purchase a copy. Hyperlink is produced by Winning Edits.

By Ray Sylvester

Whether it’s how many people make their online purchases from the comfort of their commode . . .

. . . what shoppers are really afraid of when it comes to online purchasing . . .

. . . or how many folks are even aware of the existence of cryptocurrency . . .

. . .the world of ecommerce is full of fascinating data.

Here are a few numbers for you to nibble on.

1. THE SECRET LIFE OF ONLINE SHOPPERS

(Source: BigCommerce)

25% of shoppers have made an online purchase from a brick-and-mortar store
23% have made an online purchase at the office
43% have made an online purchase while in bed
20% have made an online purchase from the bathroom
20% have made an online purchase while in the car
10% have made an online purchase after drinking alcohol

2. A BIT O’ COIN

(Source: PewResearchCenter)

24% of Americans don’t use cash for any of their purchases
39% don’t really worry about having cash on hand
48% have heard of Bitcoin
1% have actually used, collected, or traded bitcoins

3. LEFT BEHIND

2013: The year UPS began the first major deployment of its ORION routing software, which helps optimize UPS’ truck drivers’ delivery routes to save money and reduce emissions (UPS)
21,000: Emissions avoided per year by using ORION, in equivalent number of passenger cars (UPS)
0: Number of left turns UPS drivers are supposed to make on their routes, if possible (CNN)
50: Annual savings for UPS from ORION, in $ millions (MarketWatch)

4. FEARS & MOTIVATIONS

(Source: Narvar)

“What Makes Me Want to Buy Online Again”

72% of consumers are motivated to make a repeat purchase because of on-time deliveries
70% say an easy return or exchange is likely to make them a repeat customer
60% are more likely to choose a retailer that provides the exact date of delivery at the time of order

“What I Fear the Most About Online Delivery”

42% of consumers don’t trust that the package will arrive on time
49% worry about the package being damaged in transit

5. WE ALL START SOMEWHERE

$24.95: Amount spent on very first book sold on Amazon, 1995 ($21 + $3.95 shipping) (NY Daily News).
1: Number of buildings on Amazon’s Seattle campus named after the person who purchased that first book
$83,219: Amazon’s revenue per minute in 2016 (Statista)

6. YOU CAN STICK THESE NUMBERS IN THE GARAGE

(Source: Statistic Brain Research Institute)

$4,222,375: Total US weekly revenue from garage sales
4,967,500: Average number of items sold at garage sales each week
165,000: Average number of garage sales each week in the US
462%: Average profit margin when items purchased are resold on eBay
37%: Likelihood that any garage sale statistics you’ll find are reliable, because of the untrackable nature of garage sales
100%: Likelihood that the number above is made up

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