The top 15 online shopping sites in America generate billions of dollars in sales every year and are expected to dominate the market in the years to come. The e-Commerce industry in the U.S has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, having reached $322.2 billion in 2016. However, despite the impressive increase in sales and very optimistic forecasts, online retail is still just a small percentage of the $4.95 trillion total retail sales registered last year.
E-commerce, which involves buying and selling products exclusively online, has three main branches: business-to-consumer (B2C), which involves online shopping sites selling items to consumers, business-to-business, when companies exchange products and services among themselves, and consumer-to-consumer, when individuals sell products to other individuals through online marketplaces like eBay and Etsy.
Business-to-Consumer e-Commerce, or online shopping, is the most common form of online retail and the one that has been experiencing the most growth. In the last seven years, online retail sales’ share of overall retail sales jumped to 9% from around 4%. It has also been helped by the fast pace of closures among traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. In the first-half of 2017, different companies announced the closures of around 5,300 stores and Credit Suisse estimated that 8,600 stores would close this year, after 2,056 and 5,077 stores had closed in the previous two years, respectively.
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Moreover, in the first six months of this year, 345 retailers filed for bankruptcy, as companies are struggling to attract customers that are more likely to buy things online from the comfort of their homes. Toys ‘R’ Us is one of the latest victims to the shift from brick-and-mortar to online shopping, as the company recently filed for bankruptcy. The chain’s 1,600 locations have remained operational for the time being, but the bankruptcy highlighted the issues faced by traditional retailers, especially if they don’t pay enough attention to their online platforms.
The future looks bright for online shopping sites in America. Forrester Research estimates that by 2022, online sales will represent 17% of total U.S sales. Many retailers are adjusting to the changing trends in the retail space by increasing their online presence. Large retailers that operate many stores have the advantage of proximity to customers, so they use the retail locations as fulfillment centers that deliver products that customers ordered online and use their online platforms to boost their customers’ offline shopping experience, by offering click-to-collect services, for example. This is becoming a common practice among grocery supermarket operators, which traditionally build their locations close to large residential areas. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), which owns the leading e-Commerce platform in the U.S, is also taking advantage of the benefits of supermarket operators by having recently purchased the Whole Foods supermarket chain.
It’s well known that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) dominates the online shopping space in America, accounting for the bulk of sales. Amazon’s platform not only offers millions of products, but is also commonly used for research even when customers eventually purchased items on other online shopping sites in America.
With this in mind, we have selected the top 15 shopping sites in America based on their Alexa rating. Check out the list beginning on the next page.
15. Lowe’s
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) is one of the leaders in home improvement retail, operating well over 2,300 stores. The company has also been growing its online presence. According to Digital Commerce 360, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)’s sales grew by 43% on the year during its fiscal second-quarter as the company focused on improving the online shopping experience on its site through better product search, upgraded product videos and enhanced presentations. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) also operates a website to sell products to other businesses and has acquired two other companies, Central Wholesalers and Maintenance Supply Headquarters, that also have online shopping platforms for professionals.
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14. Macy’s
Next in line on the list of the top 15 online shopping sites in America is Macy’s. Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) is struggling in the offline shopping space, posting disappointing sales and closing stores. Earlier this year, Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) announced that it would close 68 stores across the U.S. In August 2016, the company said it planned to close 100 stores, which represented around 15% of its department stores. However, Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M)’s online shopping site is doing well, having registered sales of $4.62 billion last year, according to WWD. Its online sales have grown by around 13% and represented around 18% of its total sales, so the company has more room to grow in the online space.
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13. Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) is a fashion specialty retailer that operates over 340 department stores in the U.S and Canada. Similar to Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M), Nordstrom’s brick-and-mortar locations have been struggling and the company has announced plans to reduce the number of its stores. On the other hand, its online sales have been gaining ground, as Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) managed to sign distribution deals with many brands and currently generates 21% of its sales from its websites, which include the popular Nordstrom.com, but also Nordstromrack and TrunkClub.
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12. NewEgg
On the 12th spot among the top 15 online shopping sites in America is NewEgg, an online-only retailer that provides computer hardware and consumer electronics. The company is owned by Beijing-based Hangzhou Liaison Interactive Information Technology Co. Ltd and is headquartered in California. In 2015, the website generated sales of around $2.60 billion.
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11. Nike
Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE)‘s online sales amounted to over $2 billion during its latest fiscal year, showing an increase of 100% from 2015. The company is planning to reach $7 billion in online sales by 2020 through reaching out to customers via its mobile apps. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) also recently entered into a deal with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to sell its products via Amazon’s marketplace.
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10. H&M
Earlier this year, the Swedish fashion stores chain H&M said that it would focus more on its worldwide online stores. In 2016, H&M added 427 stores to its base. However, starting from this year, the company decided to abandon its idea to increase its store base by 10% to 15% every year. The company hopes that its online sales will surpass its physical store sales by 2030.
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9. Home Depot
Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) is doing well, with its comparable store sales advancing by 6.3% in the last quarter as Americans are buying more stuff to repair their houses. Moreover, Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) has been focusing on online retail and was even named as one of the most innovative companies in 2017 by Fast Company, which pointed out that Home Depot (NYSE:HD) had managed to grow its sales without opening any new stores. The growth in sales was attributed to the company’s e-Commerce strategy.
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8. Target
Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) has been struggling in competition with bigger rivals like Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT). The company recently readjusted its strategy and is currently focusing on smaller stores and online sales. In its fiscal second-quarter, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)’s comparable online sales surged by 32%. Last year, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)’s online sales amounted to around $3.08 billion, but represented just 4.4% of its total sales, so the company has to do more to boost its online revenue.
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7. Best Buy
Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY)‘s online sales amounted to $4.85 billion last year, having advanced by nearly 21%, beating the growth of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT). Moreover, Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) is relying heavily on its online sales, which represented 18.6% of its total U.S sales in its fiscal fourth-quarter. Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) has been improving its online position by reducing delivery times by half in the last two years. The company also contracted last-mile delivery service Deliv to offer same-day delivery in 13 metropolitan areas.
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6. Ikea
The Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea also operates one of the top online shopping sites in America. Ikea’s online strategy involves taking advantage of the latest technology. The company has partnered with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) to develop an augmented reality app that will allow customers to visualize how items would look like in their homes before buying them. The home furnishing company is also planning to sell its products on third party shopping sites to reach out to more online customers.
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5. Steam
Steam is a popular video game and software online distribution platform owned and operated by Valve Corporation. Steam provides users digital rights management, video streaming and social networking services. Steam has over 125 million accounts and it was estimated that it generated sales of $3.5 billion in 2015, accounting for 15% of global PC game sales. In this way, Steam lands on the fifth spot among the top 15 online shopping sites in America.
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4. Walmart
Even though it’s the biggest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) still has a lot to do in terms of its online presence. The company’s website is one of the most popular and the company has also acquired jet.com to boost its online presence. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) is one of the few companies that can take on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in the online space and is doing just that. The company plans to double the number of its online-grocery locations (stores that complete orders placed by customers on walmart.com) to 1,000. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) also expects its online sales to reach $11.5 billion this year and to increase by 40% next year.
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3. Etsy
Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) is one of the most popular consumer-to-consumer platforms in the U.S, specializing in vintage and handmade items. Last year, the company had 1.70 million active sellers and 28.57 million buyers. Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) had an annual merchandise sales volume of $2.84 billion last year, which represents an impressive growth from just $314 million worth of goods sold in 2010.
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2. Ebay
eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) operates the most popular peer-to-peer online platform, which is one of the most popular online shopping sites in America. The company, which aside from ebay.com also operates several other websites including StubHub and Classifieds, had a worldwide gross merchandise volume of $84 billion last year. eBay.com, which is eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s marketplace platform, had a GMV of $10 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2016.
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1. Amazon
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the absolute leader among the top online shopping sites in America. The company has 80 million customers in the U.S that have subscribed to its Prime membership program. The Prime program was one of the main drivers of Amazon.com’s success, allowing it to capture over 40% of the U.S online retail space. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s large size and presence not only make it the biggest threat to other online shopping sites in America and a great partner to traditional retailers looking to expand, but also make it a benchmark that shows the health of online shopping in America.
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These are the top 15 online shopping sites in America based on their Alexa rankings. The majority of the websites are operated by companies that also own many brick-and-mortar locations, so the popularity of their websites shows customers’ eagerness to continue buying these companies’ products and suggests that these companies are doing a good job transitioning towards online shopping.
Disclosure: None
