What Share of Retail Sales Happen Online? US and Great Britain

Ask around and you'll hear that everyone shops online now. The official numbers are a lot quieter than that. So let's take the common assumptions one at a time and set each against what the Census Bureau and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published.

"Everyone shops online now": is most shopping online yet?

No. In the US, e-commerce made up 17.1 percent of total retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted, according to the Census Bureau's quarterly e-commerce report. In Great Britain, the ONS says 28.8 percent of retail sales were made online in September 2026. Both are well short of half.

Bear in mind what's being counted. These are shares of sales, not counts of shoppers. They tell you where the money went, and on these measures most of it didn't go online.

"Online always beats shops": is it growing faster?

In the US, over the year, yes. Census says second quarter 2026 e-commerce rose 12.2 percent (plus or minus 0.9 percent) on the second quarter of 2025, while total retail sales rose 6.7 percent (plus or minus 0.5 percent) over the same period.

In Great Britain the answer flips with the window, and this is the bit worth slowing down for. Online spending values rose by 7.4 percent in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2026 compared with Quarter 3 2025, per the ONS. Against the previous quarter, they fell by 0.1 percent. Same data, same quarter, opposite headlines. Before you repeat anyone's claim about online growth, check which comparison they picked.

The US figures in full, from the Census Bureau

Census puts US retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2026 at $340.2 billion, adjusted for seasonal variation and not adjusted for price changes. That's up 3.8 percent (plus or minus 0.4 percent) on the first quarter of 2026. Total US retail sales for the quarter were estimated by Census at $1,986.5 billion. Without the seasonal adjustment, Census has e-commerce at $329.5 billion, also not adjusted for price changes, or 16.4 percent of total sales.

Here's the adjusted e-commerce share over the last five quarters, from the Census quarterly e-commerce tables.

Quarter	E-commerce share of total US retail sales, adjusted (%)
Q2 2025 (revised)	16.3
Q3 2025	16.4
Q4 2025	16.7
Q1 2026 (revised)	17.0
Q2 2026 (preliminary)	17.1

From 16.3 percent in Q2 2025 to 17.1 percent in Q2 2026 is a rise of 0.8 points over four quarters. It's steady, and it's slow. The Q2 2026 figures are preliminary, and Census says the third quarter 2026 report comes out on November 19, 2026.

Two scope notes matter. Census estimates include only businesses with paid employees. And Census counts a sale as e-commerce when the buyer places an order, or the price and terms are negotiated, over the internet, a mobile device, an extranet, EDI, email or a comparable online system. My older posts on facts about e-commerce and digital growth in e-commerce are background reading rather than a source for current numbers, so use the Census tables for those.

The Great Britain figures in full, from the ONS

The ONS retail sales bulletin for September 2026 says the proportion of sales made online fell from 28.9 percent in August 2026 to 28.8 percent in September 2026. Online sales values fell by 0.4 percent over the month to September 2026, after a rise of 3.0 percent in August, and were 6.8 percent higher than in September 2025.

You'll also see the ONS estimate that the quantity of goods bought in retail rose by 0.7 percent in Quarter 3 2026. That's a volume measure for all retail, so don't set it against the online value figures. The ONS also uses its own category, non-store retailing, for retailers that don't have a store presence.

"Online has peaked in Britain": has it?

The ONS doesn't say that. It says the online share dipped from 28.9 percent to 28.8 percent between August and September 2026. A one-month move of that size tells you very little about direction, and anyone calling a peak from this release is reading more into it than the ONS wrote.

Why you can't compare the US and British shares directly

• Different surveys. The US figure comes from the Census quarterly e-commerce report, the British one from the ONS Retail Sales Index.
• Different scope. Census covers only businesses with paid employees.
• Different definitions of what counts as an online sale.
• Different periods: a quarter for the US, a month for Great Britain.

So don't rank one country above the other, and don't subtract one share from the other. Use them side by side, each with its own label.

What this means if you sell online

The fair reading is that online is a big slice of retail in both places, and it isn't the whole pie. In the US it's 17.1 percent of sales in Q2 2026, and in Great Britain it's 28.8 percent in September 2026, each on its own measure. So most of the money still lands somewhere other than an online checkout. If you sell online, you're in the part of US retail that grew faster than the total over the year to Q2 2026. You aren't in a market that's replaced shops. Neither source says which products or sellers gain, and neither says a thing about your own sales, so don't borrow these numbers as a forecast. And if you're an online retailer weighing up content, I've set out five reasons to start a blog elsewhere.

Quick answers

How big is e-commerce in US retail right now?

17.1 percent of total sales in the second quarter of 2026 after seasonal adjustment, per the Census Bureau, or 16.4 percent without it.

How much of British retail happens online?

The ONS has the proportion of sales made online at 28.8 percent in September 2026, against 28.9 percent in August 2026.

What were US e-commerce sales in Q2 2026?

Census estimates $340.2 billion, adjusted for seasonal variation and not adjusted for price changes.

Is a newer US figure on the way?

Yes. Census has scheduled its third quarter 2026 report for November 19, 2026.