Searchmetrics: 2021 US E-Commerce Report

E-commerce accounted for an estimated 16.2% of all U.S. retail sales last year. When consumers search for items online, about half of their queries are informational in nature, according to a new report from Searchmetrics.

The report analyzed thousands of keywords assigned to seven online retail industries during the summer of 2021. Five of the seven e-commerce industries had the highest search volume from consumers looking for information before purchasing, including health, apparel, DIY, sporting goods, and beauty.

Of all the industries analyzed, health (53.6%) and DIY (50.3%) had the largest share of informational queries. On the other hand, only 36.1% of searches in the furniture industry were informational, with the majority of searches in the industry being transactional (62.3%).

Amazon.com is the domain with the largest share of searches in the apparel, beauty, health, and sporting goods industries. While Amazon is still by far the largest retail e-commerce site, homedepot.com has the largest market share in the DIY industry, while bestbuy.com and wayfair.com top the list in the electronics and furniture industries, respectively.

Top categories for each industry

Here are the top 3 subcategories consumers are most interested in for each industry:

• Clothing: Dresses, pants and jumpsuits
• Beauty: hair care, makeup and bathing
• DIY: Hardware accessories, building materials and power and electrical supplies
• Electronics: laptops, desktops and mobile phones
• Furniture: sofas, beds and accessories, and room dividers
• Health: Antiseptics, Mobility and Accessibility, and Phototherapy Lamps
• Sporting Goods: Track and Field, Outdoor Recreation and Exercise and Fitness.

The report also provides some recommendations:

1. Seize opportunities in information search queries
2. Includes tips and information
3. Doing better than Amazon
4. Identify changes in consumer demand and capitalize on them
5. Invest in content, not ads

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