First quarter shopping by the numbers

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Global online sales grew modestly year over year (+2%), with online traffic and average spend per order increasing by just 1% each. But despite traffic and spend being up, global order volumes continued to decline, falling by 2% over last year. In the U.S., both online sales and traffic growth were flat in the quarter, and order volumes fell even faster. Consumers placed 3% fewer orders compared to the previous year. This was likely caused by higher-than-anticipated inflation: Consumers are still paying higher prices for goods as compared to a year ago, so they’re buying less product but still spending more.

Meanwhile Europe, which has buoyed global growth in recent quarters, experienced a slowdown in online sales growth this quarter (+3% year over year), with the UK being the only one thailand whatsapp lead of the three key markets (with Germany and France) to experience growth. (That growth is likely attributable to the UK’s market lagging behind the rest of Europe as the greater region came out of an economic downturn in 2023.)

So what did shoppers buy? Retail data shows the health and beauty (+12%) and general handbags (+7%) categories saw the highest online sales growth. But, electronics and accessories along with toys and learning saw the steepest online declines (-13% and -12% respectively). This is part of the broader trend we’ve seen over the last couple of years where consumers are spending less often on non-essentials, and often trading down in price when they do make a purchase.