Enterprise AI in Numbers · Adoption and spend
E-commerce share of total US retail sales
17.1%
17.1% as of 2026 Q2, according to US Census Bureau, Quarterly E-Commerce Report (via FRED), up from 17.0% in 2026 Q1. E-commerce retail sales as a percentage of total retail sales in the quarter, seasonally adjusted.
What it means for leaders
Online retail keeps growing slowly as a share of all sales. AI shopping agents would first change how that online share is won, so compete on product data quality and agent-readable catalogues.
What would change the reading: Acceleration in the share as AI assistants start completing purchases.
The trend
Every reading
| Date | Value | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.1% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 17.0% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 16.7% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 16.4% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 16.3% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 16.0% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 16.2% | ±0.0 points | Source | |
| 16.2% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 16.1% | +0.2 points | Source | |
| 15.9% | +0.4 points | Source | |
| 15.5% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 15.4% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 15.3% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 15.0% | +0.4 points | Source | |
| 14.6% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 14.5% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 14.2% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 14.4% | −0.2 points | Source | |
| 14.6% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 14.5% | −0.1 points | Source | |
| 14.6% | −0.3 points | Source | |
| 14.9% | −0.1 points | Source | |
| 15.0% | +0.1 points | Source | |
| 14.9% | −1.4 points | Source | |
| 16.3% | +4.4 points | Source | |
| 11.9% | +0.7 points | Source | |
| 11.2% | +0.4 points | Source | |
| 10.8% | +0.5 points | Source | |
| 10.3% | +0.3 points | Source | |
| 10.0% | — | Source |
Definition and method
- What it measures
- E-commerce retail sales as a percentage of total retail sales in the quarter, seasonally adjusted.
- Population
- US retail sales
- Updated
- Quarterly
- Source
- US Census Bureau, Quarterly E-Commerce Report (via FRED) · Public domain (US government work)
Caveats
- Covers retail trade only, not services or travel.
- Quarters are revised in later releases; this series keeps the first published figure.
Cite this
Enterprise AI in Numbers, "E-commerce share of total US retail sales", https://lucianoayres.com/ai-brief/data/us-ecommerce-share/, retrieved October 25, 2026. Data: US Census Bureau, Quarterly E-Commerce Report (via FRED).